A game with powerful lessons!
14 Oct 2004
 Northern Electric Distribution (NEDL) and Yorkshire Electricity Distribution (YEDL) are sending free computer games into 3,000 primary schools this week in a bid to keep young people safe.
Earlier this year, the Safer York Partnership got together with safety experts from NEDL/YEDL and interactive media specialists York Multimedia Network, to produce a CD containing different safety scenarios. The latest scenarios exploring the potential dangers of electricity join others already created by a number of organisations including the Police, Fire Brigade and Ambulance Service.
Crucial Crew Interactive is based on the Crucial Crew workshops held all over the UK for school children aged 8-11. At these workshops, children are presented with various dangerous or challenging situations such as a football going over the wall of an electricity substation or a road traffic accident. They then take part in role-play exercises teaching them how to deal with these situations.
CCI is a computer game that enables the children to explore the potential dangers of overhead power lines, electricity substations and vandalised streetlights from the safety of their computer chair.
Ann Walker, public safety adviser for NEDL and YEDL said, ”We are always looking for new ways to alert youngsters to the potential dangers of electricity and this really fits the bill. We have spent many hours working with York Multimedia Network to develop the electricity scenarios. We also took the CD into a primary school in Leeds and gave it to year six pupils to try. The feedback from both the PSHE teacher and pupils was used to refine the resource further before completing the project.”
The CD-ROM can be used by teachers to either prepare for one of the Crucial Crew workshops, as a follow up resource, or simply to cover areas defined under the non-statutory guidelines for PSHE and Citizenship key stage two by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.
Although CCI is available online to everyone at www.crucial-crew.org, NEDL and YEDL are giving 3,000 free copies to schools in the North East of England, Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire as part of their ongoing safety campaign.
ENDS
Notes to News Editors
1. Please contact Annette if you wish to arrange an interview with Ann Walker, who was heavily involved in the development of this project.
2. Northern Electric Distribution and Yorkshire Electricity Distribution are subsidiaries of CE Electric UK, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company. NEDL is the business responsible for delivering electricity to more than 1.5 million homes and business premises in the North East and North Yorkshire. NEDL’s network is made up of more than 27,000 kilometres of underground cable and 17,000 kilometres of overhead wires. YEDL is the business responsible for delivering electricity to more than 2 million homes and business premises in Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire. YEDL’s network is made up of more than 37,000 kilometres of underground cable and 16,000 kilometres of overhead wires. Information on NEDL and YEDL is available at www.ce-electricuk.com.
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company is based in Des Moines, Iowa, and is a privately owned global provider of energy services. Through its energy-related business platforms – CalEnergy, Kern River Gas Transmission Company, Northern Natural Gas Company, MidAmerican Energy, and Northern Electric and Yorkshire Electricity – MidAmerican provides electric and natural gas service to 5 million customers worldwide. Information on MidAmerican is available on the Internet at www.midamerican.com.
3. Crucial Crew Interactive (CCI) was developed by interactive media specialists York Multimedia Network Ltd www.ymn.net in association with Safer York Partnership and other regional and national partners including Police, Fire and Ambulance Services, Transco, the Rail Safety and Advisory Group, NHS, St John''s Ambulance, ROSPA, and now NEDL/YEDL.
York Multimedia plans to widen the partnership to other organisations committed to communicating safety messages to children, and so further develop the PSHE resource for teachers. The latest scenarios can be viewed at www.crucial-crew.org. Another version of CCI in 3D Playstation2 format is also being developed, aimed at secondary school (Keystage 3) children. York Multimedia is an independent creative media business, with clients including New Deal, VNU Entertainment Media, Northern Foods plc, York Tourism Bureau, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and CGU.
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