In 1974 Professor Lévêque was in charge of the outpatient department at Bretonneau Hospital in Paris. It was there that he discovered the importance of injuries in children. He became especially interested in intoxication and burns and organised round tables on a common problem, bleach ingestion.

He then taught paediatrics at the University of Paris, with special emphasis on social paediatrics. His concern about injury prevention for children and adolescents grew. For some while he worked at the famous hospital for sick children in Paris under the tutelage of Professor Robert Debré, the founder of the International Centre for Childhood in Boulogne.

In 1987 Professor Lévêque and others, including the French paediatric society, founded CIPRAE—the Information and Meeting Centre for Childhood Injury

Prevention. He was appointed president of this organisation, the only one in France that works exclusively on injury prevention. It has a quarterly publication of 12 pages that presents statistics, bibliographies, and editorials on injury prevention. CIPRAE's purpose is to demonstrate to other groups and to government what must be done to educate and regulate in order to reduce injuries in childhood. Among the meetings organised was one dealing with child restraints in 1992 and home fires in 1993.

At the end of 1997 CIPRAE celebrated its 10th birthday. On this occasion new staff were introduced, including Dr B Chevallier who is in charge of the first French Safe Communities programme.