Rural Winners In NZ Community Safety Awards

Tuesday 9 August 2005

Rural Winners In NZ Community Safety Awards

Two programmes aimed at improving safety on farms and lifestyle blocks are among the winners of the first New Zealand Community Safety and Injury Prevention Awards.

FarmSafe, a nationwide programme aimed at changing the behaviour and attitude of farmers was the joint winner in its category.

A second rural entry from Injury Free Waimakariri was also commended in the awards. The group’s Down the Back Paddock is a programme designed for primary and intermediate schools that highlights the safety dangers of farms and lifestyle blocks.

The awards are part of the inaugural Safety NZ Week, (7-13 August) which aims to put the spotlight on New Zealand’s injury rates and encourage Kiwis to keep themselves and those around them safe.

The winners were announced today at a safety expo in Wellington’s Civic Square. They were chosen from 35 entries from all over New Zealand.

The main objective of FarmSafe is to change farmer and farm employee attitudes and subsequent behaviour towards safety on farms. More than 14,500 farm owners, staff and their families have been involved in FarmSafe training workshops in the past two years.

The Down the Back Paddock programme from Injury Free Waimakariri incorporates classroom teaching and Farm Safety Days. It was piloted in two schools in the last term of 2004 and has since been implemented at two more rural schools. The aim is to deliver Down the Back Paddock in one school per term.

The safety and injury prevention awards were developed by the Safe Communities Foundation of New Zealand in conjunction with ACC. They are designed to recognise, reward and promote excellence in injury prevention and safety promotion.

ACC Chief Executive Garry Wilson said: “Getting people to change their behaviour isn’t something that can be done quickly or something that can be done alone. Accident statistics on farms are alarmingly high and it is particularly encouraging to see these programmes being taken up by rural communities, farmers, their employees and their families.”

Dr Carolyn Coggan, Director of the Safe Communities Foundation of New Zealand said: “These awards are an excellent opportunity to reward some of the people who are working day after day to reduce the number of injuries in New Zealand. I am delighted with the quality of entries and it is very encouraging to hear about new initiatives and programmes being developed to tackle the unacceptable and unnecessary rate of injuries in New Zealand.”

Each category winner receives $2,000. Highly Commended entries in each category receive $500.

Details and profiles of the winners

Category 1 – Outstanding community safety and/or injury prevention coalition
Winner - Roading New Zealand
Highly Commended - Centre of Applied Engineering (CApENZ)
Highly Commended - Safekids New Zealand
Commended - Kidsafe Taranaki Trust
*Commended - Injury Prevention Waimakariri

Category 2 – Outstanding community safety and/or injury prevention initiative or programme
Joint Winner – Shore Safe Playground Institute
*Joint Winner - FarmSafe
Highly Commended - Woodend School
Highly Commended - NZ Fire Service

Category 3 – Outstanding example of the NZ Injury Prevention strategy framework guiding the development of a community safety and/or injury prevention initiative or programme
Winner - WaterSafe Auckland
Highly Commended - Positive Ageing New Plymouth Trust

Category 4 – Outstanding business or organisation contributing to the greater well-being of its workforce and community in general
Joint Winner - Kaingaroa Timberlands
Joint Winner - 3M New Zealand Limited

ENDS

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