Some 10,000 people in England die each year through accidents.

Young people and the elderly are the major targets of the prevention strategy since they are the most likely to risk death or injury as a result of accidents.

Accidental injury is the leading cause of deaths about young people and children in England.

The BBC's Sian Williams: "Every year a million children are injured in the home"

Older children are more likely to die in accidents. One million children are injured in accidents in the home every year.

As part of the Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation White Paper, Health Secretary Frank Dobson announced a Task Force to target accidents and a health skills programme for 14 to 16 year olds and adults, aimed at teaching them the basics of first aid and health.

The Child Accident Prevention Trust says almost 400 children in England and Wales die every year because of falls, road accidents and other injuries.

Some 2.5 million a year are admitted to hospital and the cost to the NHS of treating injuries sustained by both children and adults is estimated at £1.2bn a year.

The trust recently launched a SAFE KIDS campaign which aims to reduce accidental injury and death among children by 25% by 2010.

The government says England has lower death rates from road accidents than most of its European counterpart, but a higher rate of pedestrian accidents.

There is also a big variation in how different types of accident affect different parts of the country.

For example, rural areas have more road accidents.

Elderly people are among the most likely to suffer from accidents in the home. A third of all accidents to adults occur in the home, mostly as a result of trips or falls.

Some 2,000 elderly die each year as a result of falls, according to the government, and many have to be admitted to hospital.

The government recently launched an awareness campaign to cut the number of accidents.

The White Paper mentions a range of multi-agency measures for reducing accidents, including traffic calming, safer school routes, more careful equipment design, training children and parents together about road safety and better, faster treatment and care for people who have accidents.

Identifying risk

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) welcomed the focus on accidents, but said it wanted to see more detail about the health skills programme.

Education adviser Martin Gomberg said: "First aid is not prevention. It is more important to have the skills to reduce the need for first aid in the first place.

"We are always anxious to see that any health promotion activity which helps people deal with the consequences of accidents also includes preventing them from happening in the first place."

Some 2,000 elderly people die a year because of accidents at home

John Simmonite, a safety centre manager in Milton Keynes, said: "Accident prevention is as important as maths and English. We don't see ourselves as stand alone. We see ourselves as a tool for schools."

But the National Association of Head Teachers says parents should take the lead on accident prevention.

It is worried the health skills programme will imply extra work for already stretched teachers.

ROSPA said accident prevention was already on the National Curriculum, but needed strengthening.

The society currently produces teaching material for use in school, including a pack on hazards in the home.