BackgroundMackay Safe Community (MSC) was established in 2000 in response to high injury rates in the region. A community-based intervention using the International Safe Communities (ISC) model was considered strategic.The ISC program advocates a systematic, all injury, all age group, all situation, community-based approach to injury prevention and safety promotion. MSC assumed an ecological perspective, incorporating targeted safety promotion campaigns reinforced by supportive environments and policy. By involving the community in finding its own solutions, MSC attempted to catalyse structural, social and political changes that empowered the community and ultimately, individuals within the community, to modify their environment and their behaviour to reduce the risk of injury.MethodThis study used Social Network Analysis to analyse the social resources mobilised by the network. Using a snowballing methodology, the chain of relationships that constitute Mackay Safe Communities and its support network was elucidated.ResultsA community network consisting of 118 members and an external support network of 50 members was established. A social network analysis conducted in 2004 indicated that the network doubled its cohesiveness while simultaneously doubling the bridging and linking relationships necessary to mobilise the resources required to implement its safety promotion agenda. A 12% reduction in Emergency Department injury presentations to Mackay Base Hospital was observed over the four-year period from 2000 to 2004. Mackay Safe Community became the 81st International Safe Community on the 31st August 2004.ConclusionsMSC can only be understood in its ecological context. While it was rich in social resources, human and financial resources were largely controlled by external agencies. The productivity of MSC was vulnerable to the changing policy priorities of external sponsoring agents and critically dependent on the advocacy skills of its leaders.

Mackay Whitsunday Safe Community (MWSC) was established in 2000 in response to high rates of injury observed in the region. MWSC assumed an ecological perspective, incorporating targeted safety promotion campaigns reinforced by supportive environments and policy. By involving the community in finding its own solutions, MWSC attempted to catalyze structural, social, and political changes that empowered the community and, ultimately, individuals within the community, to modify their environment and their behavior to reduce the risk of injury. A community network consisting of 118 members and an external support network of 50 members was established. A social network analysis conducted in 2000 and 2004 indicated that the network doubled its cohesiveness, thereby strengthening its ability to collaborate for mutual benefit. However, while MWSC was rich in social resources, human and financial resources were largely controlled by external agencies. The bridging and linking relationships that connected MWSC to its external support network were the social mechanism MWSC used to access the resources it required to run programs. These boundary-spanning relationships accessed an estimated 6.5 full-time equivalents of human resources and US$750,000 in 2004 that it used to deliver a suite of injury control and safety promotion activities, associated with a 33% reduction in injury deaths over the period 2002 to 2010. MWSC can only be understood in its ecological context. The productivity of MWSC was vulnerable to the changing policy priorities of external sponsoring agents and critically dependent on the advocacy skills of its leaders.

Background Designing effective safety promotion programmes is about finding creative solutions to the tension between visionary dreams and practical solutions. Nothing will be achieved unless you have the vision to imagine a better reality for yourself, your family, your friends and your community, but nothing can be achieved unless you have the pragmatism to seek out effective solutions. Big problems must be broken down into components that can be solved. Big plans must be broken down into incremental steps that can be achieved. Aims/Objectives/Purpose This workshop will demonstrate ‘FLIP’, a comprehensive system for helping communities design effective evidence based safety promotion programmes. Method ‘FLIP’ guides participants through six simple steps that culminate in the formulation of a comprehensive project plan. 1. Identify the problem, then ‘FLIP’ to your goal. 2. Analyse the problem. 3. Having identified the key causes of the problem, ‘FLIP’ to your objectives. 4. Find solutions to achieve your objectives. 5. Implement the programme. 6. Evaluate the programme. Results/Outcomes Unfortunately, the same mistake is made over and over again. People race to the solutions before taking the time to understand the problem. This is a guaranteed way to end up solving the wrong problem! It's not hard, provided you remember to ‘FLIP’. Start by making sure you understand the problem, then ‘FLIP’ to the solutions. Significance/Contribution to the Field By eliminating needless jargon, ‘FLIP’ seeks to facilitate an open transdisciplinary dialogue in which everyone, researchers, practitioners and the target community, can constructively contribute to the planning process.

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