Safe Community Kwai Tsing

Country: Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
Number of inhabitants: 523,300
Programme started year: October 2000
International Safe Communities Network Membership: Designation year: 2003
Re-designation: 2008
Information address for the Programme:
http://www.ktschca.org.hk

Full application available:
www.phs.ki.se/csp/pdf/Kwai%20Tsing%20Safe%20Community%20Report.pdf
Kwai Tsing, Hong Kong , China – Kwai Tsing Safe Community 2000-2007 Report

For further information contact:
Ms. CHAN Wai Mai May
Kwai Tsing Safe Community & Healthy City Association
G/F, Block M, Community Health Resource Centre
Princess Margaret Hospital
2-10 Princess Margaret Hospital Road
Hong Kong, China
Phone: + (852) 2990-3360
Fax: + (852) 2990-3373
E-mail: office@ktschca.org.hk

Objectives of the Kwai Tsing Safe Community & Healthy City Association:

(1) To promote public health and public safety by establishing safe environments and healthy habits in daily living;

(2) To recognize major public health and public safety issues and for such purposes to make innovative changes by the pooling of community resources and concerted efforts;

(3) To create supportive environments that develop and sustain the public health and public safety of Kwai Tsing citizens through intersectoral participation and community partnership;

(4) For the purpose of the Association, to promote equal right to access to health care regardless of one's race, religion, political belief, economic or social status; and

(5) To work in cooperation with World Health Organization and other international bodies to advance the objects of the Association.

From 2000-2007, the programme covers the following safety promotion activities:

1. SAFETY FOR ALL APPROACH – PRE 2003

1.1 Safety Programs for All Ages

Youth Safety (0-14 years):

A survey on childhood injury was conducted for those who attended AED with injuries. Volunteers were trained to conduct home visits to spot safety issues. Colouring Competition for school children was organized to promote home safety. Experiential learning was arranged for children to visit the Safe Home Demonstration Unit at CHRC in PMH. A total of 2000 participants had taken part in these programs.

Youth Safety (15-24 years):


A survey to explore their attitude towards safety and health was conducted. Student Safety Ambassador training program was launched to teach first aid, CPR followed by a visit to the AED of PMH. Stress management program for teachers and volunteer training for students were also organized. Together with other programs such as roving exhibition on summer job safety; logo design competition for fire prevention; over 1,000 youths attended these programs.

Elderly Safety (65+ years):


A survey on elderly fall was conducted for those who attended AED. Workshops were organized for care workers on fall risk assessment and preventive measures (Figure 4). A Safety Day was conducted in an elderly home to promote safe environment and fire prevention. Experiential learning with visits to the Safe Home Demonstration Unit in CHRC was also arranged for over 1300 elderly residents.

1.2 Home Safety

Large scale activities had been organized to promote home safety in the community. Surveys were conducted to explore residents' views on safety and health issues, including domestic injuries and improvement measures. Roving exhibitions with quiz were arranged in several housing estates. Home Safety Angel training was held for housewives on home safety management and hazard prevention. About 2200 residents joined the programs.

1.3 Fire Safety

Many programs had been organized to promote fire safety targeted specifically for school kids, housewives, elderly and the general public. Visits were arranged to Fire Service Training School , Fire Boat, Fire Prevention Education Path. Other fire safety promotional activities such as quiz, parade, game design competition and open day were also conducted, with over 25,000 residents participating in these programs.

1.4 Occupational Safety

A survey to explore residents and hospital staff attitude on safety and health issues was held. The Kwai Tsing Safety Week and Roving Exhibitions were organized in several locations. Talks and promotional activities such as Green Cross Day, Good Housekeeping Campaign, Safety Quiz and Folk lift competition for construction site workers were also organized. Over 5000 participants joined the programs.

1.5 Road Safety

Road safety promotion is one of the regular activities conducted by the KT DC. Together with the working group, many promotional activities were organized; such as Road Safety Parade, Road Safety Carnival, Slogan contest and colouring competition, Safe Pedestrian and Safe Driver Award were also organized. Over 6000 residents participated in the programs.

1.6 Crime Prevention

1.7 Web Page in Action

A web page for the Kwai Tsing Safe Community was designed and launched. All the information about Safe Community projects together with structure, work groups, training and related reports were uploaded onto the web. Regular updates together with a major revamp have been conducted since 2005.

2. THE SETTING APROACH – POST 2003

After SARS, the KTSCHCA undertook a major review of the organizational structure as to how we should be organized. It was decided that large Committees were to be substituted by the Board of Director s to formulate the way forward. A small Executive Committee was established to maintain operations of the Association.

2.1 Safe & Healthy Estates

As Kwai Tsing has a large proportion of residents living in public housing estates, a “Safe and Healthy Estate Scheme” designed to improve home health and safety was firstly launched in 2002. A set of criteria were developed as outcome measure for accreditation by the KTSCHCA. These criteria include: estate management, greening, safe facilities for the elderly and people with disabilities, education and promotion on health and safety, risk assessment in the home.

Promotional activities such as home safety exhibition, health talks, first aid training and fire drills were organized to cultivate safety culture. A total of 10 seminars on home safety and health; and 8 health check events were held with over 2000 residents participating. As part of the assessment scheme, 2 site visits were organized for each estate. A total of 16 site inspections had been conducted under the scheme. Cheung Ching was the first “Safe and Healthy Estate” accredited in 2003. Since then 7 estates have passed the assessment and 4 estates have just submitted their applications and will be assessed in 2008. A total of 108,259 residents would be involved.

2.2 Safe & Healthy Schools
A Safe and Healthy School program was piloted in early 2004. The program aimed to promote a safe and healthy school environment; to prevent injuries and to sustain healthy lifestyle adopted by the teachers, students and their parents.

Since 2003, a total of 16 site visits and 2 dietetic consultations were organized for these schools. In addition, 9 health education sessions were conducted for 1600 participants, 14 CPR training for 600 participants and 18 infection control sessions for 3,000 participants including students, teachers and parents. In the Safe and Healthy School accreditation, a total of 16 schools together with over 12,185 students and teachers were involved in the scheme.

2.3 Safe & Healthy Elderly Homes

In 2004, the Safe and Healthy Elderly Home program was launched. The program included safety training for the care workers, consultancy on home management, and provision of safety and health information kits. Site visits were also included as part of the accreditation process. A set of criteria with 33 items were designed; incorporating environmental safety and hygiene; staff safety awareness; and fire safety in the safety management system.

2.4 Safe & Healthy Hospital

PMH is a major acute hospital serving the Kwai Tsing residents in the past 30 years. It is a large busy hospital with a daily transaction of over 1,200 in -patients, 1,000 outpatients, and 350 AED attendances. Apart from Hospital staff totally 3,500, many visitors and contractors visit the hospital for various purposes everyday.

With the setting up of the CHRC in 2002, an OSH Corner was set up to promote staff health and safety. A comprehensive Safety Structure together with a full time OSH Officer was created in 2000. Safety guidelines were issued; on-going training, site inspection, risk assessment and fire prevention activities were also conducted.

3. COMMUNITY BASED SAFETY PROGRAMS

3.1 Road Safety

Seminars on safe driving; carnival on road safety; publicity on safety messages; smart pedestrian campaign, slogan competitions, dramas, target programs for schools, elderly and new migrants are held on a regular basis. Since 2003, a total of 33 programs have been organized with 18,800 participants.

3.2 Fire Safety

Fire drills with debriefing, talks and demonstrations on the safe use of fire fighting equipment are conducted every 1-2 months. Fire prevention carnival and campaigns are held at least once or twice a year to disseminate safety messages through pamphlets, CD, game booths and performance. Quiz, slogan competition and computer game designs are also organized. Since 2003, a total of 90 programs have been held for over 40,000 residents

3.3 Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene

The KT DC Environmental Hygiene and Promotion of Food Safety Working Group regularly organizes campaigns, carnival, bus parade, roving exhibition and talks on food safety, anti mosquito and rodent. Visits to food factory and Hygiene Education and Exhibition Resource Centre are also arranged to enhance understanding of food hygiene. Since 2003, a total of 137 projects have been organized with 46,570 participants.

3.4 Home Safety

The KT DC Home Safety Education and Promotion Group organizes visits to PMH CHRC, fire stations, FEHD Education and Resource Centre to raise their awareness of domestic hygiene and safety measures. Home Safety Carnivals are held to deliver safety messages. A total of 23 programs were organized for 22,300 residents in the past 3 years. To prevent elderly fall in the community, the KT DC Elderly Service Group had collaborated with NGO to organize 58 programs for 6,330 elders.

3.5 Building Management

To promote safety management of building, the KT DC Building Management Promotion Working Group organizes training courses and talks every year to ensure compliance on safety regulation in electricity installation, utilities maintenance, fire safety, and structural safety of building and common areas. In the past 5 years, 9 projects had been organized for 2,300 residents, and over 90 buildings joined the competition.

3.6 Clean Hong Kong

A wide range of programs are organized by the KT DC Clean HK Committee, which include competitions on cleanest housing and public toilets, awards on best cleaning contractors and outstanding persons in keeping HK clean; patrol on black spots. Carnivals, roving exhibition, bus parades competitions are also organized to publicize Clean HK messages in public areas. Since 2003, a total of 217 programs have been organized with 165,370 participants.

3.7 Crime Prevention

In the past 5 years, 13 working groups were formed to organize activities such as talks and seminars for local residents to prevent burglary, theft and street fraud. Sport competitions to engage the youth in healthy pursuits, sharing sessions for employees and employers; seminars for principals and teachers are organized to promote crime prevention.

3.8 Community Fall Prevention Program

It was a territory-wide program initiated and funded by the Hospital Authority from November 2004 to March 2007. Objectives of the program were to promote awareness through early detection of high risk individuals; to provide timely intervention to population at risk of fall; and to reduce modifiable r isks through Tai Chi exercise.
Since November 2004, 31 Tai Chi classes had been conducted for 446 elderly. For those identified as subject to risk of fall and not suitable for Tai Chi class, a series of tailor-made exercise for the elders would be provided. 71 elders had been screened and 32 enrolled in the Fall Prevention Exercise Class.

4. INJURY PREVENTION, SURVEILLANCE & MONITORING SYSTEM

4.1 Injury Surveillance System

Starting from September 2003, an injury surveillance system was piloted at the AED of PMH, and was further developed to become a computer system in 2005. Having funding support from the OSHC, technical assistance from the HK Poly University; a system was designed to capture the core data related to all types of injuries presented at the AED of PMH.

4.2 The Injury Data
A total of 18,316 cases were captured from Jan to Dec 2006. Male contributed to the major portion (n=11,193; 61.11%) while female represented 38.89% (n=7,123) of the injury attendance. For those aged above 64, the majority was female (n=1,725, 67%). Most of the cases were between the age of 25 and 44 (n=6,208; 34%).

Most injury events occurred at street (30.87%) and home (20.99%). Workshop (12.04%) and office (5.64%) were also major places of occurrence. Most of the street-related injured victims were between the age of 25 and 44. There were 33.29% of fall, 25.49% of blunt force and 10.89 stab/cut injuries occurred in street.

The most common injury related activities were traveling (42.55%) and work (38.63%). Male was also the major portion. There were 52.66% of fall, 32.84% of blunt force and 28.58 % of stab/cut injuries during traveling. On the other hand, there were 24.54% of fall, 47.92% of blunt force and 59.89 % of stab/cut injuries at work.

In Kwai Tsing, the injury rate (figure 4) per 1000 people was estimated to be 28 (male: 51; female 32). Male aged between 25-54 years was subject to high risk for injury. For female elderly aged above 65 years, the incident rate was 70 per 1000 people.



4.3 The Injury Map

After the presentation of injury data with reference to the nature, type, location and age group involved, the KT DC decided to support enhancement of the system to develop an Injury Map using the GIS technology. It will be a pioneer in Hong Kong to provide spatial data for injury prevention and as a measurement tool to evaluate the effectiveness of the safety programs.

5. EVALUATION MEASURES

5.1 Injury Statistics

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the safety programs, the KTSCHCA has used the statistics on injury attendance at the AED of PMH as the indicator. Analysis of these injury cases was carried out from 2002 to 2007. A significant reduction of 36% of injuries was recorded in 2007 as compared with the 2002 data (Table 1).

Table 1: Injury Data from AED of PMH

* Data in 2007 were collected from Jan to June and projected to a full year

Age Distribution

Top 6 Injury Types

6. INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENT
Kwai Tsing is the first district in Hong Kong to launch Safe Community and Healthy City . In the past 5 years, over 18 visits were officially organized for 352 visitors from all over the world. In addition, experiences of the Kwai Tsing Safe Community were shared in over 18 international conferences with 25 presentations delivered.

Specific Intersectoral Leadership Group:

Staff:

Number: 3 Full-time, Contract

Professions: 1 Social Worker & 2 Community Service Assistants