Waimakariri
District Council

Name of the Community: Waimakariri District
Country: New Zealand
Number of inhabitants: 35,000
Programme started year: 1994
"WHO Designation" year: 1999

• Maintain awareness of use and correct fitting of child restraints in vehicles;
• Safe Cycling practices promoted in schools;
• Correct cycle helmet fitting campaigns in schools;
• Promotion of fire alarms and safe temperature for hot water;
• Safety displays at public events;
• Media articles regarding child safety;
• Promotion of road safety policies in schools;
• Anti-bullying project in schools;
• Promotion of health campaigns such as ‘Cycle Helmet safety week’;
• Child safety product guide published;
• ‘Play it Safe, Sport’ project focusing on safe sport, and influencing sports clubs to develop policies for safety in sport;
• Facilitating sports injury prevention workshops and sports first aid workshops;
• Submissions to Territorial Local Authority on safer roading environments;
• Promote and deliver ‘Small Steps’ - a workshop for parents of pre-schoolers;
• Influencing playground policy of Schools, Council and public providers of playground equipment;
• Consultation on playground safety and design;
• Parenting Programmes supported;
• Facilitating playground safety workshops;
• Child Safety product guide erected in two locations;
• Co-ordinated local activities for the national Kidsafe Week;
• Prepared and distributed safety tips for insertion in Early Childhood Centres and School newsletters;
• Mural involving 85 children’s water safety messages.
  

• Ensuring Young People are represented on local advisory groups;
• Employment of youth workers focusing on early intervention and crime prevention;
• Anti-bullying project in Schools;
• Road crash forum highlighting the consequences of a road crash;
• ‘Change the script’ - role plays that explore attitudes to risk taking on the roads;
• Young driver competitions testing young drivers skills and knowledge;
• Support for youth workers which include the Police Youth at Risk Project, Community Youth Worker Project, Schools Attendance Project, Teen Parent Support Project.
  

• Training for Police, midwives, retailers and members of the community on the correct use of child restraints;
• ‘Chaos at the school gate’ project aimed at parents picking children up safely from school;
• Distribution of information on trampoline safety;
• Rural drivers campaign targeting winter driving;
• Media campaign targeting correct driver behaviour at intersections;
• Drug dump campaign - targeting the safe disposal of unwanted medicines;
• Child safety product guide delivered to every household;
• Host responsibility programme and charter with hotels and sports clubs within the district promoting sober driving;
• Safety audits in the community will be undertaken in the near future.
  

• Safe With Age Driving programme;
• Neighbourhood Support.
  

Home:
Child Safety Product Guide; Drug dump campaigns; Family Violence Awareness Campaigns; Neighbourhood Support; Kidsafe Week.

Traffic:
Campaigns around winter driving; inattention; tiredness; driving sober; consequences of road crashes; Pedestrian Safety.

Occupational: No

School:
Traffic Safety Policies; Playground Policies; Correct Cycle helmet fitting and usage; Anti-bullying Programme.

Sports:
Injury Prevention Policies within sports clubs; Sober driving messages promoted at sports clubs.

Leisure:
Playground Policies; Water safety messages; Consultation on safe playground design.

"Accidents’ in the following injury areas:
Home, playgrounds, roads, sport, Early Childhood Centres, Schools, local area safety audits.

Violence prevention:
Anti-bullying project in schools and the wider community
Family Violence prevention in the community.

Suicide prevention:
Youth Workers

Programmes aiming at "high risk-groups":
Pre-school children
School children
Young people
Families
Women
Older adults

Surveillance of injuries:
Land Transport Safety Authority maintain a database of traffic crash involvement within the district identifying location, ages, types of road users, causes, injury and environmental factors.

Numbers per year:
In 1997 there were 150 recorded road crashes. This resulted in 5 fatal, 24 serious and 69 minor casualties

Population base: 35 000
Started year: 1994
Police keep data on frequency and cause of injury.

The Safer Community Council collect data through record keeping from youth project workers.

Local GP’s [Doctors] collect and collate injury data from their own clients and some national hospitalisation figures are collected.

• Discussions have begun on collecting statistics on hospitalisations statistics specifically for this district.
  

Publications:

• Children of the Waimakariri. A Survey of needs and services. August 1997;
• Waimakariri District Safer Community Council [Crime Prevention] Community Safety Profile. January 1999;
• The Waimakariri Community Youth Worker Pilot Project - An Evaluation. November 1997;
• Waimakariri District Road Safety Report 1993 -1997 -LTSApublication;
• Waimakariri District Injury Prevention Needs Assessment. January 1999;
• Waimakariri District Road Safety Strategy [Draft].
• Safe Waimakariri Community Team Projects and Programmes June 2000-June 2001.
  
  

Produce information material, pamphlets:

• The Safe Waimakariri Community Team publishes on a quarterly basis a newsletter which is distributed widely within the district;
• Child Safety Product Guide. 1996;
• Play it Safe, Sport. A game plan for safe sport. 1998;
• Play it Safe, Sport guidelines. 1999;
• Safe Waimakariri Community Team, brochure. 1996;
• Road Safety Brochures.
  

Staff:

Organisation: Waimakariri District Safer Community Council
Permanent: One
Professions: Representatives from Health, Youth, New Zealand Police, Department of Corrections, Victim Support, NZ Children and Young Persons Service, Waimakariri District Council, New Zealand Work and Income Support, Iwi, Presbyterian Support Services, Waimakariri Community Development Trust and community representatives.

Specific intersectoral leadership group: Yes
Organisation: Injury Prevention Waimakariri
Permanent: One
Professions: Representatives from Plunket, Doctor, Crown Public Health, Accident Compensation Corporation, St John, Police, Schools, Waimakariri District Council.
Specific intersectoral leadership group: Yes
Organisation: Waimakariri District Road Safety Co-ordinating Committee.
Permanent: One
Professions: Waimakariri District Council, Land Transport Safety Authority, New Zealand Police, Transit New Zealand, Automobile Association New Zealand, Safe Rangiora, Safe With Age, Canterbury Regional Council, Hurunui District Council.
Specific intersectoral leadership group: Yes

International Commitments:

Study Visits: Hume and La Trobe Districts were visited in Australia in 1997 and 1998.

Participation in Safe Communities Conferences: Safe Comm 5 and World Injury Prevention Conference in 1997 in Melbourne; Australian Injury Prevention Conference in Melbourne in 1998; World Injury Prevention Conference in Amsterdam in 1998; Safe Community Networking Meeting in Auckland in 1997. Will attend the Asia / Pacific Injury Prevention Conference in Waitakere in 1999.

Hosting Safe Community Conferences: Not yet

Hosting Travelling seminars: Proposed for 2003

Other: Liaise with Safe Communities in NZ and Australia

For further information contact:
Sandra James
Safe Waimakariri Community Team
Waimakariri District Council
Private Bag 1005, Rangiora, North Canterbury
New Zealand
Phone: 0064 3 313 6136
Fax: 0064 3 313 4432
sandra@wmk.govt.nz

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

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