Safe Community Noarlunga

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Noarlunga Towards a Safe Community

Children 5-12 years: Community safety, hazard identification
Youth 12-24 years: Workplace safety, personal safety
Adults 25-64 years: Workplace, home safety
Elderly 60+ years: Home safety, recreational safety

Description:
Noarlunga Towards a Safe Community is an intersectorial community based injury prevention program being undertaken in the City of Onkaparinga, Adelaide, South Australia.
The program strives to address all forms of injury, intentional and non-intentional through the use of a cooperative regional approach. The public sector, local government, the private sector, voluntary groups and community members are working together to increase safety and reduce the human, social and economic costs associated with injury.

Issues addressed:
Five priority areas were chosen as a result of a community household telephone survey in 1992.
They were:
Workplace safety
Personal Safety
Community Safety
Recreation Injury
Home Safety

Activities/Programs:
Recently, the programs in Noarlunga have focused on work safety, personal safety, recreational, community and home safety issues. However, throughout the lifespan of the program a wide range of programs have been implemented:

Children 0-14 years:

Safe Dreaming Trail to School
This is a community safety program designed to involve staff from local primary schools, health services and community members and key people from local service agencies work together to involve students in a creative and practical way of learning about safety issues. Primary school students develop skills in identifying and reporting safety hazards within their local community, and have the opportunity to learn about Indigenous safe community practices through Dreaming Stories.

For further information please contact:
Mary Morriss
Community Health Nurse
Noarlunga Health Services
E-mail:morriss.mary@saugov.sa.gov.au

Youth 15-24 years:

Safe and Healthy Workplaces in the South
A project that aims to bring together school students, small businesses, health professionals and teachers to reduce the incidence of workplace injury. The project not only aims to reduce the incidence of workplace injury by introducing strategies to develop a link between leaving school and entering the workplace but also to encourage employers to introduce and maintain safe working practices. The project aims to reduce workplace injury in small businesses and to safeguard young inexperienced people working or undertaking workplace training.

Staff at Noarlunga Health Services are working with approximately 200 small businesses and ten high schools in the southern suburbs to provide young school leavers with all the skills necessary to learn safe work practices before leaving school.

Adults 25-64 years:
The Safe and Healthy Workplaces in the South project works with local small business employers and employees to promote a safer and healthier workplace by providing onsite training opportunities such as first aid, fire safety, chemical safety, manual handling and eye safety workshops. Approximately 130 businesses have attended the workshops.The workshops are a part of an ongoing Occupational Health and Safety program and include practical information on the management of health and safety in the workplace.

For further information please contact:
Steve Parker
Community Safety Consultant
Noarlunga Health Services
E-mail:parker.steve@saugov.sa.gov.au

Recreational Injury Onkaparinga Physical Activity Project
The Onkaparinga Physical Activity (OPA) project promotes the uptake of physical activity by people living in the outer southern suburbs with the aim of improving their cardiovascular health status.The Onkaparinga Physical Activity project supports the local community of the City of Onkaparinga in developing and maintaining a safe, healthy and active lifestyle.Stepping OutThe Stepping Out program is a walking group project supported by Noarlunga Health Services. The free walking groups are promoted as beneficial for cardiovascular health and are advertised as a convenient, safe and easy way of improving health and well-being.

For further information please contact:
Kate Saint
ManagerHealth Information and PromotionNoarlunga Health Services
E-mail:saint.kate@saugov.sa.gov.au

Personal Safety
Keep Safe Stay Cool
Keep Safe Stay Cool is an early intervention program targeting young people between the ages of thirteen and twenty five years, using a peer education model to promote healthy relationships as opposed to interpersonal violence. The project works directly with High School students and their teachers.Keep Safe Stay Cool utilises a framework of human rights to encourage change in young people's beliefs, attitudes and behaviours regarding interpersonal relationships. The program aims to encourage the understanding of mutual responsibilities with a view to reducing the incidence and tolerance of interpersonal violence.

For further information please contact:
Fiona Buchanan
Social WorkerSouthern Vales Community Health Centre
E-mail:buchanan.fiona@saugov.sa.gov.au

Onkaparinga Collaborative Approach
The purpose of the Onkaparinga Collaborative Approach to the Prevention of Domestic Violence (OCA) is to promote a coordinated regional approach to the prevention of domestic violence and Indigenous family violence.

For further information please contact:
Bhavanamurti Saraswati
ManagerSouthern Women's Community Health Centre
E-mail:saraswati.bhavanamurti@saugov.sa.gov.au

Elderly 65+ years:
Home Safety
Be Safe and Independent at HomeThe program aims to reduce the incidence of falls in the over 60 age group. It includes the following strategies: community education, peer support train-the-trainer workshops, provision of safety inspections in individuals' homes, the provision of low cost safety equipment such as rails, and the support and education by hospital inpatients who have suffered a fall.Noarlunga Health Services has been involved in falls prevention initiatives since 1993 when the Be Safe - Prevent Falls At Home program was initially established by occupational therapists and students in cooperation with the Housing Trust, Noarlunga Council and local equipment suppliers. The program acknowledged these concerns, with independence and injury prevention becoming twin goals of the program.

For further information please contact:
Karen Dixon
Chief Occupational Therapist
Noarlunga Health Services
E-mail:dixon.karen@saugov.sa.gov.au

Surveillance of injuries:
Telephone survey conducted in 1992 'Injury in Noarlunga' to highlight the key injury areas to be focused on Emergency Department - Eye Injuries (work in progress)

Publications:
· "Application for WHO Membership, 1995"
· "Noarlunga Towards a Safe Community, World Health Organisation Redesignation Report, 2003"
· Keep Safe Stay Cool Website http://www.softcon.com.au/kssc/
· "Tackling Injury Prevention in Small Industry" - 28 page report
· "Be Safe - Prevent Falls in Your Home" - pamphlet, display and flier
· "Safe Schools: Developing Community Health Partnerships."
Mary Morriss, S, Susan Mann, Tess Byrnes, Noarlunga
Health Services, South Australia
Australian Journal of Primary Health - Interchange. Vol 6, No.2, 2000
· "Safe Dreaming Trails to School: Community Participation and Indigenous Culture."
Mary Morriss, Susan Mann, Tess Byrnes, Noarlunga Health
Services, South Australia
Australian Journal of Primary Health - Interchange. Vol 3, Nos. 2&3, 1997
· Safe and Healthy Workplaces in the South Website http://www.softcon.com.au/shw
· A Southern Business Directory has been developed to advertise businesses taking part in the Safe and Healthy Workplaces in the South Project. http://www.softcon.com.au/sbd

International commitments:
Participation in Safe Community conferences:
Australia, 1996
South Africa, 1997
Bangladesh, 2000
Bangladesh, 2004
Hosting "Travelling Seminars": 1996 SafeComm Travelling Seminar
· In 2002, the development of Safe Community Adelaide was launched. Noarlunga Health Services provided support to the developing Safe Community.
International recognition gained from injury prevention presentations at world conferences and visits from delegates from other countries.
· Partnerships with fellow members of the International Safe Communities Network.
· During 2002 and 2004 Sherpur Safe Community and the Noarlunga Towards a Safe Community Program worked together in developing and implementing an innovative eye injury prevention program for metal workers and wood workers in the many small businesses located in Sherpur, Bangladesh.
· Hosting annually visits and workshops with international visitors and students attending the Healthy Cities Short Course convened with Flinders University of South Australia.

Telephone: +61 8 8384 9361
Fax: +61 8 8384 9710
E-mail: hicks.richard@saugov.sa.gov.au

Steve Parker
Community Safety Consultant
Noarlunga Health Services
Department of Human Services
E-mail:parker.steve@saugov.sa.gov.au
Telephone: +61 8 8384 9307
Fax: 8384 9248

Safe and Healthy Workplaces in the South
http://www.softcon.com.au/shw

Updated by Moa Sundström, 2002-10-29 14:39 .