Affiliate Safe Community Support Centre
China Occupational Safety & Health Association (COSHA)

Country: China
Number of Inhabitants (China Mainland): 1.3 billion (at 2000)
Programme started year: 2003
Affiliate Safe Community Support Centre: Designation year: 2008
More information: www.COSHA.org.cn

Application report:
www.phs.ki.se/csp/pdf/affiliatecentre/china_cosha_application.pdf

For further information, please contact:

Yi Lie
China Occupational Safety and Health Association (COSHA)
21, Hepingli Beijie, Beijing, P. R. China
Phone: +86-010-64464565
E-mail: oym1408@sina.com

Application Report:


Staff-workers of COSHA

Identity:
China Occupational Safety and Health Association (COSHA), founded in 1983 as a national and professional social organization, is subject to the administration of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS). COSHA has devoted itself to occupational health and safety; therefore, it cooperates actively with various governmental departments and agencies, provides services on safety promotion, injury prevention, training and education as well as boosts international interactions.

Mission:
The mission of COSHA is to function as an overall advisory organization to:

• provide technical services, such as safety promotion and consultancy, training and education, research and investigation on matters of safety and health to communities;
• popularize safety knowledge through information exchanges and publications;
• conduct safety assessment and risk assessment projects.
  
  

Aim:
The aim of COSHA is to improve the safety awareness of the public and to support China’s Safe Communities with COSHA network safety experts.

The aim of COSHA is to improve the safety awareness of the public and to support China’s safety communities with COSHA network safety experts.

Brief description under each of the 10 indicators:

1) The provision of Centre programs and services utilize multidisciplinary and cross sectoral approaches.

COSHA, through multidisciplinary and cross sectoral approaches, has always devoted itself to safety promotion and injury prevention. For example, COSHA fosters strategic partnerships with governmental agencies, industry sections, non-governmental groups and the wider communities. COSHA also strengthens and supports the opportunities for contributing to the scientific knowledge and practices of community safety and injury prevention through its publications, training programs, and other resources to academics and practitioners.

COSHA has promoted community programs by coordinating and integrating related departments and agencies concerning traffic, firefight, injury control and prevention, school, medical institutions and the volunteers’ organizations as well as its own network of safety experts. The cross-sectional joint safe community building mechanism has been formed gradually.

2) The Centre provides a framework for promoting collective action which includes involvement with community networks.

COSHA has established effective collaboration by supporting local communities and organizations with expertise trainings and guidance, participating in community safety promotion conferences and supporting focused injury intervention and prevention for people in different situations and environments.

COSHA works as technical support center for Safe Community building, organized or participated projects development and implementation, assigned specific people coordinate with communities, provided technical support for communities and standardized Safe Community building. COSHA also has set up a platform for information exchange, through which many communication meetings have been held and community visits have been organized. COSHA has also been involved in supporting the development of regional community injury prevention coalitions.

3) The Centre provides consultative support to communities in the establishment of Safe Community initiatives.

Over 10,000 COSHA staff are scattered in all sectors, such as governmental departments and agencies of safety management, health, communications, fire fighting, and construction, in colleges and universities, and in research institutes and academies. They constitute a nationwide professional safety and service network in China. We take full advantage of this group to provide technical services to these communities. We hold three 3-days' lectures every year. The number of the participants is about 200 each time. Meanwhile, the experts also go to communities to hold lectures. Up to date, more than 5000 people have been trained in more than 40 lectures. COSHA has seven full-workers taking charge of safe community building, developing safety promotion programs and providing free technical services to communities through cooperation with local professional and technical departments.

Safe Community lecture show
Safety knowledge propagation to the community


COSHA has compiled the “Basic Criteria of Safe Community Building” as the standard for “National Safe Community” designation according to China’s characteristics in 2005, which was issued in Feb 27, 2006. Subsequently, COSHA proposed the “Assessment Indicators of Safe Community” and “Rules for Designation of Safe Community”.

Based on the analysis of the situation of communities in China, we selected 7 communities as pilot communities in July 2004. These communities are located in Beijing, Shanghai, Shanxi Province and Hebei Province respectively. In the past five years, Safe Community program has been recognized by more and more communities. Under COSHA’s guidance, rapid development has been achieved and the concept of Safe Community has been widely acknowledged. Up to date more than 300 communities with 2000 million populations have launched Safe Community building.

Kick-off Ceremony for Chaoyang District and Lu’an Group

Until June of this year, 14 communities in China Mainland have been designated as members of international Safe Community networks, which is the largest number in Asia. More communities are under preparation and will apply for international Safe Community designation.

Designation ceremonies for international Safe Communities in China Mainland

4) The Centre facilitates and supports community-based strategic planning processes.

COSHA staffs are involved in community development by providing the integrating Safe Community approach into their strategic plan.

COSHA has established a Safe Community research base in Wangjing Community in Beijing. Based on the achievement in Wangjing Community, COSHA intends to make Wangjing as a pilot study case and popularize its experience to other communities, including emergency rescue training, homemaking attendants’ safety training, escaping from top floor, traffic safety and fire protection, safe food and clothing, health files of the elderly and traffic safety simulation show.

In order to promote Safe Community in China, COSHA has achieved significant amount of investigations and data analysis of the local communities. Therefore, special programs and projects have been set up and executed. COSHA provides the following resources:

• strategic advice on community development
• expertise in Safe Community promotion and evaluation
• methodological assistance in establishing injury surveillance system.

5) The Centre demonstrates leadership and stewardship in addressing priority injury issues, high risk, and vulnerable groups.

Over the past 20 years, COSHA has made great contributions to scientific and technological progress for safety promotion, education and training, safety culture development and popularization as well as to promoting international exchanges and cooperation in the field of occupational safety and health.

To develop the Safe Community program in China Mainland, COSHA has contacted the relevant governmental departments, invited them to participate in the Safe Community program and established a cross-field joint mechanism.

Entrusted by SAWS, we are authorized to designate and manage these "National Safe Community”. COSHA helps the communities in identifying major hazards, including unsafe behaviors, unsafe materials, unsafe environments and management defects, Furthermore; it has assisted in the identifications of groups exposed in high risks, hazardous environment and vulnerable groups within these communities.

First-aid lecture show

Safety Games

Injury prevention and safety promotion programs have been developed and implemented, targeting high-risk groups and environments. All Safe Community programs are based on the fifth indicator for Safe Communities of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion. The programs pay special attention to the focused groups in every community.

6) The Centre provides expert services and knowledge in the area of injury data and injury surveillance issues.

COSHA organizes a team of consultants from a wide range of professional backgrounds. COSHA also provides expert services and knowledge in the area of injury data gathering and injury surveillance issues, ensuring all work undertaken is evidence-based and accessible.

COSHA guides the communities to establish an injury surveillance system, especially on frequency and causes of injuries; and provides methodological assistance in establishing injury surveillance system.

Chinese community medical service system is in the process of being built. Therefore, COSHA guides communities in cooperation with relevant departments to establish a daily monitoring channel for data on injuries from traffic accidents, fires, workplaces and violence.

7) The Centre demonstrates a long term commitment to supporting Safe Communities and the Safe Community Network within their organizations strategic plan.

COSHA is always taking the commitment to support Safe Communities and the Safe Community Network through participating in international Safe Community Network activities and forming a nationwide professional safety service network in China. Leaders of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) have stressed that they will, as they have always been, support Safe Community promotion and promote the Safe Community towards a larger scale. In China’s National 11th Five-Year-Plan on Work Safety, Safe Community building is considered as a key task, and a 5-year program of Safe Community building is also proposed in the 11th Five-Year Plan of Safety Culture Promotion, issued by State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS).

COAHA has affirmed its commitment to support development of Safe Communities internationally. COSHA will, as it has been always, actively attend the international conferences.

8) The Centre supports those responsible at the community level to utilize appropriate indicators to evaluate community processes, effects of change and injury rates.

COSHA presents to community forums the use of scientific approaches to develop strategic plans, and COSHA has also organized site-visits by outside experts, such as Prof. Leif Svanström from WHO Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion, Sweden and Prof. Jool Pil Cho from Republic of Korea and experts from Hong Kong for safety promotion. Through lectures and trainings, the community staffs are taught about safety community promotion, injuries surveillance and other safety issues.

COSHA helps each community identifying its own characteristics. For example, in urban communities of Beijing, traffic safety, firefighting safety, violence prevention and the care of the elderly are the focus; while in the enterprises communities, the focus lies in workplace safety and safety services; and in rural communities the focus is pesticide poisoning and motor vehicle safety.

9) The Centre disseminates their experiences both at national and international levels.

International Support:

• The 12th International Safe Communities Conference in 2003, Hong Kong, China, and the Inauguration Ceremony of Kwai Tsing Safe Community and Tuen Mun Safe Community;
  
  
• The 13th International Safe Communities Conference in 2004, Prague, Czech Republic, and
• the 7th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Control;
• The 14th International Safe Communities Conference in 2005, Bergen, Norway;
• The 15th International Safe Communities Conference in 2006, South Africa.
• The 16th International Safe Communities Conference in 2007, Iran.
• COSHA has organized study groups for 13 times to Hong Kong, more than 200 people were involved.
• In April 2005, we invited Prof. Leif Svanström to Chaoyang Wanjing community in Beijing, and Kailuan Qianjiaying community in Hebei Province.
• In April 2006, senior project officials of World Health Organization in China visited COSHA, and remark highly to COSHA’s Safe Community promotion achievements.
  
• The 4th Asian Regional Conference on Safe Communities, in 2007, Thailand. Wu Zongzhi, vice- president of COSHA attended the conference.
  
• The 17th International Safe Communities Conference in 2008, New Zealand.
  Shan Chunchang , vice- president of COSHA attended the conference.
  
  
  

National Support:

• regular conferences and seminars on safety promotion have been organized in the past six years
• exchanges and visit studies between the Mainland and Taiwan have been organized for the last 18 years
• visit studies of Hong Kong have been organized 13 times.
  

10) The Centre reports on their Safe Community activities and research efforts.

COSHA has actively participated in international safety network, kept close contact with WHO Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion, reported to the center about Chinese Safe Community progress and contributed to the "Safe Community Weekly” by sending information about Safe Community promotion in China Mainland. COSHA has also published scientific books and brochures in Chinese.

Publications (partial):

• Basic Criteria of Safe Community Building;
• Brief Introduction to Enterprise Safety Culture;
• Introduction to Safety Science and Engineering;
• 100 Questions and Answers of Safety Culture;
• Guidance for Safety Culture Activities;
• Key Points for Certified Safety Engineers Qualifications Examination;
• Advanced Safety Engineering Education Text Book Series (Safety Principle; Safety System Engineering; Safety Ergonomics & Safety Management);
• The Chemicals Safety Operation in Workplace;
• Major Hazards Identification and Control;
• Guidance for Occupational Safety and Health Management System Pilot Standard;
• Industrial Risk Identification and Assessment Methods;
• Risk Assessment Methods and Applications;
• Introduction to Emergency Rescue System and Major Accident Emergency Plan;
• Books of Student Safety Education;
• Modern Safe and Health Engineering Book Series;
  
  Information materials:
• China Safety Science Journal;
• Safety;
• China Occupational Safety and Health Association Information;
• Safe Community Communication.