Sigma Elevator Donates 160 Helmets to At-Risk Preschool Students in Bangkok

Bangkok, Thailand, November 21, 2013 --(PR.com)-- On November 14, 2013, Sigma Elevator donated 160 high-quality helmets to students and teachers of Ban Kookot preschool in Bangkok through collaboration with the Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation on the Helmets for Kids program.

The donation was made during a helmet handover ceremony at the school which was attended by Sigma Elevator VIP: Mr. Kay Jang, Managing Director, Mr. Teerachai Larsar, Manager of BPO, EH&S, Ms.Anna Son, Manager of Marketing & Communications, Mr. Sujin Chotijaruchaiya, Manager of NE Sales, Mr. Kaikangwon Neelapai, Manager of Service Sales, and Mr. Surasak Hongthong, Manager of FOD. The ceremony included road safety-themed performances by students, remarks by representatives of Sigma and AIP Foundation, a training on proper helmet use, and road safety games.

“Safety has been an uncompromised value of Sigma Elevator Thailand Company. With continuous innovations and application of high-technologies in our product and operation, we focused on delivering the high level of safety standard to our customers, employees and our subcontractors,” said Mr. Kay Jang, Managing Director of Sigma Elevator. “For Sigma Elevator, this is already the 2nd sponsorship to the Helmet for kids program through which we have been contributing to the safety of local communities. This sponsorship will ensure the safety of the kids in the Children education center and will build up the strong safety awareness with its post safety education.”

Ban Kookot preschool is located in the Minburi District within Bangkok province; there are no sidewalks around the school and there is a blind curve on the road near the school gate which prevents those entering and exiting the school from seeing oncoming traffic until it is close by.

The road situation students face each day in their daily commute puts them at a great risk of road traffic injuries and fatalities, a major cause of death among young people in Thailand. In 2011 alone, there were 68,582 road traffic incidents in Thailand that resulted in 14,033 deaths.

The students of Ban Kookot preschool are aged between two and six. In this and many other low-income areas, purchasing helmets for younger children is thought of as an impractical luxury. Many parents make the assumption that small children will outgrow their helmets too quickly, or that they spend less times on motorbikes. This is an extremely dangerous misapprehension as small children usually ride on the front of their parents’ motorbikes, putting them in even graver danger of potentially serious head injury as the result of road traffic crashes. For this reason, reaching young children and ensuring that they wear helmets is of the utmost importance.

“Helmets have been proven to reduce the risk of injury resulting from a road traffic crash by 69 percent and death by 42 percent,” said Ratana Winther, AIP Foundation Thailand Country Director. “Children are the most vulnerable group of road users, and it is important that we take this small step to protect them from potential injury or, even worse, death. We hope that these students will remember the road safety lessons that they learned here today and continue to value their helmets as they do now for years to come.”

Sigma Elevator’s generous sponsorship of helmets and helmet use education was supported by Thai road safety stakeholders including the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and the National Police.