MATTERS OF INTEREST

INTERNATIONAL SAFE COMMUNITIES

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (15:26): Members may recall that in my inaugural speech in this place I mentioned my involvement with Safe Communities Inner North East (SCINE). I wish to expand today on the concept behind the International Safe Communities concept. The International Safe Community Network is coordinated by the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion at Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

A safe community can be a municipality, a county, a city or a district of a city working with safety promotion, injury, violence and suicide prevention, and prevention of the consequences (human injuries) related to natural disasters, covering all age groups, gender and areas and is part of an international network of accredited programs.

It was the work of the Noarlunga Safe Community that inspired SCINE to join the Safe Community journey. Noarlunga was an early adopter of the International Safe Community model and was recognised as the 14^th international member in 1996. The Noarlunga reference group has continued to meet regularly since 1994.

Safe and Healthy Workplaces in the South is the flagship program, established in 1996. It is one of the initiatives that continues to grow in diversity and reaches out to a large percentage of the local population. Using a range of strategies, the program encourages small business employers to introduce and maintain long-term safe working practices.

One strategy is the Blood Awareness in Small Business program, which seeks to lessen the transmission of blood-borne diseases in the workplace and to educate employers and employees in small businesses about first-aid procedures and health issues associated with blood-borne viruses. Some 190 high-risk small businesses located in the Lonsdale and Hackham light industrial areas continue to take part in this initiative.

Another initiative taken by the Noarlunga group is the emergency first aid courses, which teach employers and employees how to handle emergency situations in the workplace, at home and in the community. A total of 28 first aid evening courses have been run, and over 500 employers, employees and family members have received nationally-accredited Red Cross basic first aid training.

Southern Primary Health Noarlunga has developed a Depression in the Workplace program in association with local business associations. This initiative focuses on practical programs and resources to deal with the issue of depression in the small business community. Depression and suicide prevention programs work face-to-face with 250 local businesses. Each work site has been provided with a range of information and educational resources to raise their awareness of mental health and depression and to promote the access to services and support, both emergency and ongoing.

Teachers, students, health workers, community workers and artists have participated in the 'Spot the Hazards Walk' where they detected and documented hazards in the local community. Students then wrote to the appropriate service providers to report on the detected hazards. A forum was then held at schools with the local service providers—namely, the City of Onkaparinga, SAPOL, the Metropolitan Fire Service, AGL and SA Water. Students received information regarding their reported hazards and heard about the different roles of service providers in ensuring community safety.

Coming back to the SCINE group, they are in the process of working with the Gilles Plains Primary School to develop a similar program that will develop collaborative partnerships with children and young people to empower them to understand injury prevention and promote community safety. I commend the SCINE group for their work towards the membership of the International Safe Community which is quite a detailed process.

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