NZ Community Safety Awards Winners Announced

Tuesday 9 August 2005

NZ Community Safety Awards Winners Announced

Injury prevention programmes developed for roadworks, playgrounds, farms and water have won the first New Zealand Community Safety and Injury Prevention Awards.

Two companies also receive awards for their contribution to the greater wellbeing of their workforce and the community in general.

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 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.

Roading New Zealand’s Safety Around Roadworks campaign won the award for best injury prevention coalition.

Safe at Play, a playground safety project initiated on Auckland’s North Shore and now being offered nationwide, and FarmSafe, a programme to reduce injuries on farms, were joint winners of the best injury prevention initiative or programme.

WaterSafe Auckland, an organisation working to reduce drownings and water related injuries in Auckland and neighbouring regions won the award for an outstanding example of a programme being guided by the New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy framework.

And in the business category, the joint winners were Kaingaroa Timberlands for their work promoting safe recreational use of the Whakarewarewa Forest and the North Shore’s 3M New Zealand for outstanding workplace safety and community involvement.

ACC Chief Executive Garry Wilson said: “There is some excellent work being done in New Zealand to help reduce the number of injuries that happen every day at home, at work on the road and on our sports fields.

“Getting people to change their behaviour isn’t something that can be done quickly or something that can be done alone. It is very encouraging to see how many best practise injury prevention programmes are operating in communities and workplaces around the country.”

Dr Carolyn Coggan, Director of the Safe Communities Foundation said: “This is 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 are listed below.

For more information contact: ACC Media Advisor Richard Braddell Phone 04 918 4291 or 021 474 240

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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