New laws introduced in early November make Victoria the first Australian State to mandate minimum safety standards for schools and children services to protect children at risk of anaphylaxis. Schools, kindergartens and child care centres are now required to have comprehensive individual management plans for students or children enrolled at their facility who are at risk of anaphylaxis. They must also store allergy medication properly, and have a plan as to how they will alert parents about an allergy incident. The laws mandate minimum specialist first aid training for teachers and staff so they are aware of how to treat a child with anaphylactic shock. The management policies must be in place by July next year; facilities that do not comply with the legislation will face fines of up to $30,000.

Figures provided on the Victorian State Government website estimate around 4000 Victorian children in child care, kindergarten or at school have suffered at least one anaphylactic attack. A 2006 survey of all licensed children’s services found about 35 per cent of schools currently has at least one student enrolled who is at risk.

Following the Victorian Government’s earlier allocation of $2.1 million over five years for state-wide training of teachers and children services workers, more than 11,700 government school teachers and staff and 4,800 children services workers have been trained. The target is to have a total of 22,000 workers trained by July 2008.