Voices from the Safety 2012 World Conference in Wellington

Around 1000 leading researchers, policy makers and practitioners from around the globe came to Wellington in October for the Safety 2012, the 11th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion. Participants had their thinking challenged, were updated on world trends, and passionately shared ideas and expertise.

The conference was jointly organised by ACC, Safe Communities Foundation NZ and the Injury Prevention Unit of Otago University. A formal evaluation will be completed in early 2013.but the feedback received to date has been glowing.

Media coverage of Safety 2012 was extensive with over 80 positive media stories across New Zealand internet, radio, TV and print. You can watch and listen to three of these interviews by clicking on the links below.

1. TV 3 Firstline: Interview with Dr Etienne Krug, Director – Department of Violence and Injury Prevention, World Health Organization.
2. TV 1 Breakfast: The Dangers of Button Batteries (includes a graphic depiction of the damage they can cause if swallowed).
3. Radio NZ - Saturday Mornings with Kim Hill: Interview with John Carnochan, Director of the Violence Reduction Unit in Scotland.

See all the keynote sessions and presentations:

To share some of the knowledge and learning across the world, video recordings were made of the keynote sessions and state of the art presentations. You can watch them here.

Key messages that came through during the conference included:

• Injury prevention is a complex, multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary problem (involving researchers, policy makers, programme managers, practitioners and communities) so collaboration is essential.
• The need to address the gap between research and turning that into practicable interventions.
• NZ is not alone in its identified priority areas (falls, suicide and self harm, assault, drowning, motor vehicle, and workplace injuries).
• Alcohol is the single biggest identifiable risk factor for many types of injury.

The next World Safety Conference will take place in Atlanta in 2014.