Name of the Community:
- SHOROC Regional Organisation of Councils
- incorporating Manly, Mosman, Pittwater & Warringah Councils
Country:- Australia
Number of inhabitants:- 250,756
Programme started years:- initiated in January 1995 by Northern Sydney Area Health Service. Endorsed by SHOROC in July 1996
Info address on www for the programme: N/A

The programme covers the following safety promotion activities:

For the age group:
Children - 0.4 years:
falls prevention in the home, burns & scalds prevention, playground safety, sports safety
Youth - 15-24 years:
sports safety, personal safety in public places (with reference to underage drinking of alcohol, graffiti & skate boarding), road safety, water safety
Adults - 25-64 years:
safety in public places (violence prevention), road safety, fire safety (smoke alarm promotion & industrial fire prevention), sports safety, water safety.
Elderly - 65+ years:
falls prevention, pedestrian safety, safety in public places, fire safety (smoke alarm promotion), pedestrian safety.

At the following environments:
Home: children, elderly
Traffic: children, elderly, the general public
Occupational: small business (fire safety)
School: children (sports injury)
Sports: children & youth (local sporting clubs)
Leisure: children, youth, elderly (shopping centres, falls in public places), safety in public places - assaults etc
Other: what?

`Accidents' (non intentional injuries) in the following injury areas: falls, burns/scalds, drownings, sport, road/pedestrian

Violence prevention (intentional injuries): safety in public places (criminal assaults, perceptions of crime, graffiti etc)

Suicide prevention (self-inflected injuries): N/A

Programs aiming at `High risk-groups':
elderly - preventing falls, safety in public places, pedestrian safety
children - pedestrian safety, preventing falls
youth/young adults - violence prevention
non English speaking communities - water safety

Surveillance of injuries: Public Health Unit - Northern Sydney Area Health Service:
surveillance of hospital separations due to injury (ongoing). Accident and Emergency Injury Presentation Data is not available at this stage.
Other sources of data surveillance include: Roads and Traffic Authority, Fire Brigade, police, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research: NSW Attorney Generals Dept.; Northern Beaches Health Promotion Unit and participating councils (community surveys).

Numbers per year: The SHOROC local government areas (LGA's) of Manly, Mosman, Pittwater and Warringah are four of the eleven LGA's that go to make up the Northern Sydney Area Health Service. Specific injury rates for individual LGA's are currently being analysed. At this time it is known that there are approximately 190,000 hospital admissions for injury among Northern Sydney residents each year. This represents 9% and 6% of all male and female hospital admissions respectively. Falls were the single most common reason for injury hospitalisation overall, and represented a major problem among children (under 15) and the elderly (65+). Motor vehicle accidents were an important cause of hospitalisation for male and female resident in the 15 - 24 year age group.
Population Base: 739,120 (Northern Sydney Area Health Service)
Year started: Project started in 1995. Surveillance of Hospital Injury Separations by the Public Health Unit is ongoing.

Publications: (Scientific) New South Wales Youth Sports Injury Report, Northern Sydney Area Health Service. July 1997. Information is also available at Northern Sydney Area Health Service Public Health Unit web site: http://www.ozemail.com.au/~jskinner

Produced information material, pamphlets: senior safety calendar, pedestrian safety, refrigerator magnets, posters; stickers (for display at signalised crossings), bus safety poster/wallets (falls prevention), multilingual water safety brochure/property protection brochure, safe storage of industrial waste brochure.

Reports: “Surfing Injuries and their Prevention on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia.” A qualitative research study of 11-19 year old surfers. M Loneon. 1997 (Unpublished).
Results of a Community Safety Phone In, Smoke Alarm Campaign, Manly Beach Safety Campaign, SHOROC Safe Communities Progress Report - 1998.
Newsletters and media articles.

International commitments:
Study visits:
Participation in Safe Community conference: 7th International Conference on Safe Communities, Rotterdam 1998 (2 papers and 4 posters presented), 5th International Conference on Safe Communities, Melbourne, Australia 1996.
Hosting Safe Community Conferences:
Hosting `Travelling Seminars': 8th World Health Organisation Travelling Seminar hosted by Northern Sydney Area Health Promotion - February 1996.
Other: Conference Presentations at: The 4th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Control, Amsterdam 1998 (2 posters), The 2nd National Conference on Injury Prevention and Control, Melbourne 1998 (1 plenary, 2 papers), The 8th National Health Promotion Conference, Sydney 1996 (1 paper, 1 poster)

Staff:

Number 1 Project Officer
- Project Groups are supported by local government and health promotion staff
Professions:full time Project Officer
Permanent:
Temporary: funding confirmed until June 1999 - funding following this date is currently under discussion.

Organisation: SHOROC Safe Communities is made up from Health, Local Government, Police, Fire Brigade, Roads and Traffic Authority and community organisations. There is a overall project management group and seven issue specific project groups that meet on a monthly basis. Issue specific project groups are intersectoral groups with community involvement. It is through these groups that the planning and implementation of community based activities takes place. Each group is coordinated by one of the four SHOROC councils or the Northern Beaches Health Promotion Unit. The issue specific project groups and the corresponding coordinating body are:
Senior Safety Mosman Council
Personal Safety Manly Council
Sports Safety Warringah Council/Health Promotion
Water Safety Warringah Council
Children's Safety Pittwater Council
Road Safety Pittwater & Warringah Councils
Fire Safety Health Promotion & NSW Fire Brigades

Specific intersectoral leadership group: SHOROC Safe Communities Management Gorup is made up from health and local government. This group meets on a monthly basis.

For further information contact:

Margie Brown
Executive officer
SHOROC
PO Box 1004 DEE WHY NSW 2099

e mail: secretariat@SHOROC.nsw.gov.au
Shoroc@nsw.gov.au

Copyright © 1999-2000 Dept. of Public Health Sciences.

Updated by Moa Sundström, 2005-12-12.