• THE STRATEGY
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• STRATEGY EVALUATION
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• IMPLEMENTATION
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• INJURY PRIORITIES
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• PROGRAMMES DATABASE
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• SITE MAP
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• ABOUT
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• The Strategy
• Strategy Framework
• Why a Strategy?
• Principles
• Treaty of Waitangi
• Vision & goals
• Delivering the Strategy
• Statistics

Principles

The New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy

The New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy sets out a vision and strategic direction for injury prevention. It establishes a framework that enhances and supports the injury prevention activities of government agencies in particular and other organisations and groups in the wider community.

It requires regional and local government, non-government organisations, businesses and community groups, who have such an important role to play in injury prevention, to use the Strategy to inform and guide their activities.

The Strategy focuses on the prevention of injury (both unintentional and intentional), which involves using preventive measures to reduce the number of new cases of injury, and reduce the severity of those injuries that do occur.

Injury prevention requires appropriate action to be taken on an everyday basis by all members of society in their various roles such as parents, caregivers, managers, workers, landlords and road users. Knowing what is appropriate action is not always common sense, however, and will need to be fostered through education, training and research.

Current evidence suggests that injury prevention will work best when it:

• addresses the multiple factors that contribute to injury
• encourages environmental and behavioural change
• engages the people who are most at risk
• involves action across sectors (e.g. health, police, education)
• is sustained and reinforced over time.

The benefits of staying injury free are considerable. For individuals, families and whanau there is continued quality of life, ongoing participation in work, leisure and educational activities, and preservation of income and assets. For organisations and businesses the benefits of injury prevention include reduced disruption to their operations, increased productivity, retention of valued staff and reduced levies. The wider community has a lot to gain from having a safer, positive and more productive population, and from less demand being placed on the health care system due to injury.

Principles

The New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy is based on eleven underlying principles that the Government sees as fundamental. These are a broad set of statements, which should serve to guide and inform injury prevention policies and activity across the public sector into the future. These principles are also intended to guide the injury prevention activities of regional and local government, community groups, iwi, businesses, families/whanau and individuals.

• Lead role for government
  Central government will support injury prevention through legislation, policy, standards and resources.
• Relationship with Maori
  The special relationship between Maori and the Crown under Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) will be recognised in the undertaking of injury prevention activity.
• Collective action
  Injury prevention activity requires the active participation of regional and local government, community groups, iwi, businesses, families/whanau and individuals working in partnership with central government.
• Personal skills and responsibility
  Injury prevention activity will encourage the development of personal skills and foster responsibility for personal safety and the safety of others.
• Environments
  Injury prevention activity will encourage the creation of physical and social environments that reduce the risk of injury.
• Equity
  Injury prevention activity will aim to reduce inequalities in injury outcomes within and between groups.
• Cultural appropriateness
  Injury prevention activity will recognise and respond to the differing needs of: Maori; Pacific peoples; other ethnic groups; and new migrants.
• Evidence-based decision-making
  Injury prevention activity will be based on evidence and good information, wherever possible.
• Effectiveness
  Injury prevention activity will focus on identifying and implementing interventions that are effective and make the best use of resources (both human and financial).
• Integration
  Injury prevention activity will be co-ordinated so that interventions will be mutually reinforcing and complementary, and avoid unnecessary duplication.
• Anticipate and respond to change
  Injury prevention activity will anticipate and respond to changes in injury patterns, exposure to risks, population trends, and emerging knowledge about proven or promising interventions.