North Shore City is the 6th designated Safe Community in New Zealand and number 116 in the world. Overview of Safe Community programme. Application received May 2007. Site Visit 25th June. Designation Ceremony 24th July 2007.

Country: New Zealand
Number of inhabitants: 215,200
Programme started year: 1994
International Safe Communities Network Membership: 2007
www.northshorecity.govt.nz Key Word: safe city
Full application available: http://www.safecommunities.org.nz/sc/ns

For further information contact:
Wayne Williams (Part-time coordinator) 
ShoreSafe
177B Shakespeare Road
Milford, North Shore City
New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 4894975 x113      Fax: +64 9 4862928
shoresafe@acns.co.nz

The programme covers the following safety activities:

For the age group:

• Children 0 – 14:
  Active Movement
  Active Schools
  FireWise
  International Accreditation as a Safe School
  Kids Bike Day
  Paracetamol Poisoning Prevention
  Preventing Falls in 0-5 year olds
  Safe at Play
  Safe at Play Playground Project
  School Safety
  Strengthen Families
  Student Safety
  Tina and Tane Show
  Toddler Mornings
  Uncle Eric’s Picnic for Disabled Children
  Under 5s Safety Project
  Y Bus
  Youth Aid
  Youth Council
  Youth Destinations Project
  Youth Education
  Youth Investigators 
  Youth mini-ball and soccer leagues
  Youth Offending Progammes

• Youth 15-24 years:
  Active Movement
  Active Schools
  Babysitting Courses
  Community Constables
  Graffiti
  Health and Physical Education – Health in Action
  MAST Group
  Playground Assessment Project
  Safe at Play
  Safe at Play Playground Project
  School Safety
  Strengthen Families
  Student Safety
  Truancy
  TXT Line
  Uncle Eric’s Picnic for Disabled Children
  Y Bus
  Youth Aid
  Youth Council
  Youth Destinations Project
  Youth Education
  Youth Investigators 
  Youth mini-ball and soccer leagues
  Youth Offending Progammes

• Adults 25-64 years:
  10,000 Steps Harbour
  2007 Wellness Strategy
  ABBA
  ACC Partnership Programme
  ACC Speed Trailers
  Actionline
  Active Friendly Environments
  Addressing Health and Safety Issues
  Adult Sports Leagues
  Anti Drugs and Alcohol Programme
  Anti Harassment and Bullying
  Asian Driver Fatigue
  Audit of Pedestrian Facilities
  Bays Artist Alliance
  Beginner Bike Sessions
  Bike to Work Day
  Birkenhead Northcote Graffiti Removal Programme
  Body and Soul
  CCTV Monitoring of Public Places
  Chinese/Kiwi Friendship Group
  Community Development Contract Partners
  Community Networks
  Community Patrols
  CPTED Assessments
  CPTED Training
  Crash Investigation
  Crash Reduction Studies
  Disability Advisory Group
  Drink Driving Reduction
  Driver Fatigue Projects
  Eliminating Boy Racers
  Employer Assistance Programme
  Eyes of the Community
  Families in Parks
  Family Violence
  Family Violence Project
  Fitness and Development
  Food Safety Education and grading food premises
  Gangs
  Get Active at Work
  Glenfield Seat Belt Project
  Graffiti Database
  Graffiti Vandalism Assessment
  Green Prescription
  Grey Spot Studies
  Harbour Ward MAST Network
  Harbourside Bush Walk and Brouchere and Explorer
  Hazardous Waste Collection
  He Oranga Poutama
  Health and Safety Annual Plan
  Health and Safety Week
  Health, Safety and Environmental Induction for Contractors
  Health, Safety and Environmental site monitoring of Contractors
  International Friendship Group
  Intersection Campaigns
  Les Mills Fitness Classes
  Liquor Bans
  Liten Up
  Local Traffic Management Schemes
  Make it a Safe Summer Campaign
  Migrant Water Safety
  Mobility Strategy
  Multi-cultural events, activities and festivals
  New Residents Packs
  Online food safety evaluation forms
  Pandemic Action Plan
  Pedestrian Strategy
  Police Family Violence Team
  Police Liaison Meetings
  Police/Fire Intelligence Datasets
  Push Play
  Reactiv8 your Life
  Refugees as Survivors
  Responsible Host Programme
  Road Safety Action Plan
  Road Safety and Education Projects
  Road Safety Management Systems
  Safe and Healthy Work Environment
  Safe way of working
  Safer Communities
  Safety Health and Environmental Management System
  Safety, Quality and Environmental Coordinator
  Seat Belt Campaigns
  Settlement Support
  Shared Vision
  Site Safe
  Speed Reduction
  Sport Risk Management
  Street Light Upgrade Programme
  Summer in the Bays
  Summer Programme
  The Halberg Trust Sport Opportunity Programme
  Triathlon Safety
  Trolley Falls in Supermarket
  Warrant and License Checks
  Waste Bylaw
  Waste Collection- safety issues
  Wellness Programme
  Young Family Support

• Older Adults 65+ years:
  50s Forward
  ACC modified Tai Chi
  Aging is Living
  April Falls Promotion
  Celebration of Age
  Eat Well Live Well
  Home Safe Home
  Housing for the Elderly: Falls Prevention Programme
  Information Days
  International Day of the Older Persons
  Marae Visit
  Mental Health Seminar
  Northcote Falls Prevention Pilot Project
  Otago Exercise Programme
  Relaxerise
  Safe with Age
  Step Ahead: Safe on your feet 
  Through Other Eyes

In the following Environments:

•  Home:
  Actionline
  April Falls Promotion
  Babysitting Courses
  Bath Safety
  Early Childhood Kits
  Eat Well Live Well
  FireWise
  Hazardous Waste Collection
  Home Pool Safety
  Home Safe Home
  Housing for the Elderly: Falls Prevention Programme
  New Residents Packs
  Northcote Falls Prevention Pilot Project
  Otago Exercise Programme
  Pandemic Action Plan
  Paracetamol Poisoning Prevention
  Preventing Falls in 0-5 year olds
  Safety Fencing Programme
  Step Ahead: Safe on your feet
  Strengthen Families
  Under 5s Safety Project
  Waste Bylaw
  Young Family Support
• Traffic:
  ACC Speed Trailers
  Audit of Pedestrian Facilities
  Child Restraint Project
  Crash Investigation
  Crash Reduction Studies
  Defensive Driving Targeting Alcohol and Speed
  Drink Driving Reduction
  Driver Fatigue Projects
  Driving Towards a Future
  Eliminating Boy Racers
  Glenfield Seat Belt Project
  Grey Spot Studies
  Intersection Campaigns
  Local Traffic Management Schemes
  Pedestrian Strategy
  Police Liaison Meetings
  Road Safety Action Plan
  Road Safety and Education Projects
  Road Safety Management Systems
  Seat Belt Campaigns
  Speed Reduction
  Street Light Upgrade Programme
  TravelWise to School Programme
  Walking School Buses
  Warrant and License Checks
  Youth Driver Action
• Occupational:
  2007 Wellness Strategy
  ACC Partnership Programme
  Addressing Health and Safety Issues
  Anti Drugs and Alcohol Programme
  Anti Harassment and Bullying
  Bike to Work Day
  Body and Soul
  Employer Assistance Programme
  Fitness and Development
  Get Active at Work
  Health and Safety Annual Plan
  Health and Safety Week
  Health, Safety and Environmental Induction for Contractors
  Health, Safety and Environmental site monitoring of Contractors
  Liten Up
  Mobility Strategy
  Responsible Host Programme
  Safe and Healthy Work Environment
  Safe way of working
  Safety Health and Environmental Management System
  Safety, Quality and Environmental Coordinator
  Site Safe
  Trolley Falls in Supermarket
  Waste Collection- safety issues
  Wellness Programme
  Young Family Support
• School:
  Active Schools
  Health and Physical Education – Health in Action
  Playground Assessment Project
  Safe at Play Playground Project
  School Safety
  Student Safety
  Travelwise Programme
  Truancy
  Y Bus
• Sports:
  Adult Sports Leagues
  Beginner Bike Sessions
  Sport Risk Management
  Triathlon Safety
• Leisure:
  10,000 Steps Harbour
  Green Prescription
  Harbourside Bush Walk and Brochure and Explorer
  He Oranga Poutama
  Les Mills Fitness Classes
  never2old Exercise Programme
  Push Play
  Reactiv8 your Life
  Summer in the Bays
  The Halberg Trust Sport Opportunity Programme
• Water: 
  Bath Safety
  Early Childhood Kits
  Home Pool Safety
  In at the Deep End
  Integrated Aquatic Programme 
  NewSettler Project
  PE Programme developed by GLC
  Rainbow System of Supervision
  SafeSwim
  Safety Fencing Programme
  Swimming Lessons
  Swim School Water Safety Project
  Test Alerts for Safe Swim
  WaterSafe Guidelines
  WaterSense
  Wise up to the Water
• Migrants:
  Asian Driver Fatigue
  Chinese/Kiwi Friendship Group
  International Friendship Group
  Migrant Water Safety
  Refugees as Survivors
  Settlement Support
• Safer Community and Families:
  ABBA
  Active Friendly Environments
  Birkenhead Northcote Graffiti Removal Programme
  CCTV Monitoring of Public Places
  Community Patrols
  CPTED Assessments
  CPTED Training
  Eyes of the Community
  Graffiti Database
  Graffiti Vandalism Assessment
  Harbour Ward MAST Network
  Shared Vision

Violence prevention (intentional injuries):

North Shore City has numerous projects in place to reduce the incidence of violence in the City. When new violence risk problems occur in the community the North Shore Police are quick to implement projects that control and eliminate the problem. 

• Family Violence Project
• Gang Prevention Projects
• Police Family Violence Team
• Safer Communities
• Youth Re-offending Programme

Suicide prevention (self-inflected injuries):

Suicide prevention is a very complex issue and the North Shore plans to develop initiatives in this area in the future.

Programmes aiming at “High risk-groups”:

North Shore City is a very successful city across a wide range of areas and has in the past and present produce excellent injury prevention and safety programmes. However, there are some alarming statistics that show North Shore City has certain risk areas and groups within the City. These include the leading cause of death, suicide (38%), secondly, falls (25%) and motor vehicle incidents (20%). North Shore City is very diverse and is constantly changing and growing As a result certain risk areas or groups can be isolated and marginalised when compared or combined with the rest of North Shore City. There is potential for ‘hidden areas’ of risk to develop on the North Shore. The community needs to monitor to ensure these areas are supplied with suitable prevention programmes.

In collaboration with the community risk areas and groups need to be identified and programmes developed to cater accordingly. North Shore City has numerous initiatives in place to reduce the frequency of unintentional injuries from falls and motor vehicle incidents. Another key issue for the North Shore is intentional injuries from suicide. This is a very complex issue and the North Shore plans to develop initiatives in this area in the future.

There are also key safety issues in North Shore City around water safety and the growing migrant population which do not show as strongly in the statistics.

The expansive coastline of the North Shore City, boasting numerous popular beaches has seen the development of a much needed innovative water safety initiative. ‘Make it a Safe Summer’ has drastically reduced the incidence of drownings at the beaches and has resulted in saved lives! This project has also been an excellent promoter of safety in general on the North Shore and improving the awareness of safety.

The migrant population is continuously growing on the North Shore and water safety is a specific risk area for this group. The Migrant Water Safety project showcased in this application as well as the Asian Driver Fatigue, Settlement Support and Friendship groups demonstrates how North Shore City identifies these key risk areas. These initiatives also show the development initiatives specifically for these new residents of North Shore City.

Initiatives for older adult falls prevention, road safety, water and migrant safety are list in the above lists of programmes.

Surveillance of injuries:   

The North Shore City Injury Data ACC ThinkSafe report, produced by Safe Communities Foundation of New Zealand was vital in identifying the key causes of death and hospitalisation in North Shore City. The Safe Communities Foundation of New Zealand utilised many different sources to attain the information for the report. These included: New Zealand Health Information Service, New Zealand Census data from Statistics New Zealand, Injury Prevention Research Unit (IPRU) – Otago University, Land Transport NZ (LTNZ) data and ACC data. In addition to this information, statistics were sought from the New Zealand Fire Service, New Zealand Police and DrownBase-WaterSafety New Zealand.

ACC and various other government agencies provide statistics for project work in North Shore City. This data has provided essential information for identifying the leading causes of accidents and injury in North Shore City. In order to determine project priorities and actions injury data is essential.

During the 1999 - 2003 period there were 300 deaths on the North Shore. The leading cause of death was Suicide (38% n=113), followed by Falls (25% n=76) and Motor Vehicle Crashes (20%, n=60). Males had approximately double the number and rate of injury deaths compared to females and Europeans accounted for the highest ethnic group deaths (86%), followed by Maori (6%), Pacific Islanders (3%) and Asian (3%).

During the 2004 – 2005 period there were 4,063 hospitalisations and falls were the leading cause across all age groups. The majority occurred in the home, and the leading type of injury was fractures.

During the same 2004 -2005 period there were 2,140 new ACC claims in North Shore City at a total cost of $8.78 million. The following year the number of claims increased to 2,595 at a cost of $11.2 million.

Produced information material, pamphlets, community communication:

• Communication and focus group participation with North Shore City Council and the community to identify Community Outcomes for the City. This work has assisted in safety being recognised as one of the Community outcomes for North Shore City, ”personal safety and crime - our people feel safe and secure in their everyday lives.”
• ShoreSafe WHO Accreditation coalition meeting (October 2006)
• North Shore WHO Accreditation wider community forum (November 2006)
• ShoreSafe Newsletter – bimonthly
• ShoreSafe news and updates on the National Injury Prevention website
• Local newspaper articles on safety initiatives in North Shore City
• Promotion of North Shore City WHO accreditation through community and industry newsletters

Staff                                                                                

Number: 1
Professions: Part-time coordinator
Temporary: 1 year contract
Organization: ShoreSafe
Specific inter-sectoral leadership group: Management Group consisting of key organisation representatives such as North Shore City Council, ACC, WaterSafe Auckland Inc, SafeKids New Zealand, Age Concern North Shore, Auckland Regional Public Health Service, Waitemata District Health Board

International commitments:

• Representatives from ShoreSafe attended and presentation findings at Safe Communities conference in Mackay in 2004.
• North Shore City WHO Accreditation Profile at the 17th International Safe Communities Conference, October 2008, Christchurch, New Zealand.
• Future communications and support of Korean cities also involved in the WHO Safe Communities movement.