SafeClub - A risk management program improving community sports safety
Paul Klarenaar - Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service
Abstract
Despite risk management being recognised as the 'best-buy' in sports injury prevention, community sports clubs are yet to embrace it. In this context, the 'SafeClub' program was developed to help community sports clubs implement their own user friendly risk management framework.
Developed jointly by Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service and Youthsafe, SafeClub teaches clubs how to identify, assess and manage their specific safety issues. By the end of the program, participants will have identified their specific safety issues, developed a club-specific sports safety manual and received advice and support from trained professionals.
The SafeClub program was evaluated over two years through a prospective controlled trial involving 76 soccer clubs (approximately 38 000 players). The trial revealed a statistically significant increase in safety activities amongst clubs that received the SafeClub program. This improvement was even more pronounced one year-post training, suggesting that SafeClub is a sustainable sports injury prevention strategy.
The public health implications of SafeClub are considerable, as each community sports club participating in the program delivers safety benefits to an estimated 1000 Australians each weekend.
SafeClub was recognized as the 'Best Risk Education and Training Program' at the 2006 Australian Risk Management Awards and also won a gold award at the NSW Sports Safety Awards in 2006.
A staged roll-out of the SafeClub program is currently being undertaken by Youthsafe in partnership with Sport & Recreation, Communities NSW and Football NSW. The program now has three delivery formats: 1 session (3-4 hours); 2 sessions (2 x 3 hours) or 3 sessions (3 x 2 hours).
Find out more on the SafeClub website
.This project was entered in the 2007 NSW Health Awards, New Risks and Opportunities category.
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pdf - 3.5 MB).
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Contact
Manager, Northern Beaches Health Promotion
Northern Sydney Central Coast Health
PO Box 465 Manly Hospital NSW 1655
Phone: 02 9976 9533
Fax: 02 9977 7531
Date created: 24th Oct 2007 | Date reviewed: 26th Feb 2010
