For Immediate Release                                                            Contact:  Paul Damaso (905) 793-5484

 

 

Brampton Celebrates 2003 Accomplishments in Community Safety

M.P.P. Jeffries Announces Emergency Preparedness Added to Community Priorities

 

Brampton, Ontario – January 30, 2004 --- Partners of Brampton’s Safe Community Coalition joined forces last week to announce their progress in addressing Brampton’s crime and injury priorities during 2003.  The group is made up of more than 20 local groups, businesses and government organizations including: the Brampton Safe City Association, City of Brampton, Region of Peel, Peel Regional Police, Red Cross, St. John Ambulance, WSIB and IAPA just to name a few.  In January of 2003, the group established a three-year plan to reduce crime and injuries in Brampton as part of Brampton’s designation as a Safe Community with the National Safe Communities Foundation. 

 

Identifying Priorities for the Safe City Plan in Brampton

 

During the Safe City Partnership’s analysis of local injury and crime statistics, it found:

·         Unintentional (or accidental) injuries to children 0 to 4 years of age exceeded the Provincial average in the Region of Peel. The primary cause of these injuries was the result of falls, poisonings, car accidents, and bicycle injuries. Secondly, an alarming 85% of car seats inspected in Brampton were not correctly installed.

·         Falls are a leading cause of morbidity, disability, premature institutionalization, and mortality among seniors.  In Ontario, 23,689 seniors were admitted to hospitals as a result of falls in 1996. 2,030 of those individuals lived in the Region of Peel.

·         A total of 8,536 injuries were suffered by Brampton workers between 1996 and 2000 resulting in WSIB insurance costs of well over 18 million dollars. Those numbers continued to rise in 2001 with particularly large increases in the Manufacturing, Transportation and Construction Industries. Alarmingly, more than 5,000 of those workers had less than a year of work experience. 

·         Road Safety ranked as a “top 3” concern for Brampton residents in every opinion poll conducted by either the City of Brampton or Peel Regional Police over the past three years. 

·         In spite of relatively low crime statistics crime prevention and the reduction of crime are consistently among the top priorities identified by Brampton residents. 

The Effort to Address These Concerns in 2003

 

Child Safety

 

The Risk Watch Program was created by the National Fire Protection Association and is
co-ordinated in Brampton by Fire and Emergency Services.  The program provides interactive and educational activities in seven key areas: fire and burn prevention; motor vehicle safety; choking; suffocation and strangulation prevention; poisoning prevention; falls prevention; fire arms injury prevention; bike and pedestrian safety; and water safety.  The goal was to deliver the Risk Watch Program to 15,000 kids in 15 schools during 2003.  Brampton Fire and Emergency Services exceeded that target by delivering the program in a total of 22 schools to an estimated 16,500 children.

 

 The Region of Peel’s Public Health Department coordinates “Wear the Gear” events as a fun and interactive way for elementary school aged children to learn about proper safety equipment and safe riding skills.  The goal was to host 2 Wear the Gear Clinics for an average of 20 children per event in 2003.  By the end of 2003, 150 children participated in clinics – significantly exceeding our targets.

 

…2

 

Car seat safety clinics provide an opportunity for parents and caregivers to have their car seats inspected, with their children in them, by a trained inspector.  These inspectors provide feedback to parents on: whether they are restraining their child properly; ways that they can improve their child’s safety while in a vehicle; and they correct potential safety problems with car seats and seat belts.  The goal was to hold 3 car seat clinics for a total of 180 participants this past year.  In 2003, 7 car seat clinics and 1 donor clinic were coordinated reaching a total of 229 participants. Approximately 195 of the seats that were inspected were correctly reinstalled as a result of being seen.

 

Seniors Safety

 

Falls Prevention Clinics provide seniors with “hands on training” in eliminating fall risks from their homes and the surrounding environment.  At the same time, the clinics provide an opportunity to identify seniors who might require additional support in areas such as: Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Social Assistance, Nutrition, or Speech-Language Pathology.  Falls Prevention Clinics in Brampton were coordinated for the Safe City Partnership by the Peel Health Department, the Community Care Access Centre of Peel and Peel Senior Link (a seniors housing provider).  During 2003, 610 seniors received falls prevention training in Brampton through 2 major clinics, with an additional 104 seniors receiving training at a number of mini-clinics.

 

Workplace Safety

 

As a process of becoming designated a safe community, Brampton’s small and medium sized employers became eligible for an exclusive workplace safety program called SCIP (Safe Communities Incentive Program).  The Safe Communities Incentive Program provides companies with workplace safety training and access to a WSIB insurance rebate program if they effectively reduce workplace injuries.  Brampton’s Safe City Partnership had established a goal of engaging 40 businesses in SCIP during 2003.  We were able to successfully recruit 46 businesses.  Those businesses not only received invaluable safety training, they reduced injuries and earned a rebate on their WSIB premiums totaling $69,382.32.  An additional 43 businesses were engaged in 2 Workplace Health and Safety Sessions targeted at the manufacturing and construction industries.  As a result, a total of 89 Brampton businesses were actively engaged in making their workplaces safer in 2003.

 

The Partnership had also identified young worker safety training as a major goal.  With the help of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and the Industrial Accident Prevention Association, young worker safety training was provided to an impressive 1,244 working age students this past year.

 

Road Safety

 

The Road Watch program is a Region of Peel, (Brampton, Mississauga, Caledon) based community initiative that gives residents and visitors an opportunity to report dangerous and aggressive drivers to the police.  The program encourages residents to complete and submit a Road Watch form whenever they observe a reckless, speeding, or dangerous driver. Reported drivers are contacted by police and receive official warnings in the hope of deterring them from repeating the offence in the future.   

 

The primary goal of the Partnership’s Road Safety effort this past year was to encourage increased use of the Road Watch form. In doing so, we hoped that our efforts would also create a heightened awareness of the need to drive safely.  The committee realized good success in 2003 as demonstrated by a 28% increase in the use of Road Watch forms for Brampton this past year.  Furthermore, less than 1% of the incidents reported were for repeat offenders.   

 

 

 

 

 

…3

Crime Prevention

 

As part of the Safe City Partnership, the Brampton Safe City Association, in partnership with Peel Regional Police and the City of Brampton, coordinate a number of innovative and effective crime prevention activities for the residents and businesses of Brampton.  Here are just some of the highlights of Brampton’s crime prevention efforts this past year:

 

·         78 individuals were engaged as participants in the Crime Prevention Academy (a “St. John Ambulance style” program that trains residents to become crime prevention trainers)

·         10 new neighbourhoods, representing 250 residents, initiated Neighbourhood Watch programs

·         500 residents participated in Neighbours Night Out events (an initiative that encourages neighbours to meet each other and work together)

·         80 youth contributed more than 2000 volunteer hours to local safety initiatives

·         300 businesses joined the Business Crime Prevention Program bringing the total participation to more than 1,200 Brampton businesses

·         A total of 120 crime prevention activities were coordinated in 2003 - drawing almost 8,000 participants (1,391 hours were contributed by volunteers in coordinating these initiatives)

 

Emergency Preparedness Will Be added to The List of Safety Priorities

 

As part of the event highlighting Brampton’s safety initiatives, Brampton Centre M.P.P. Linda Jeffries announced that Brampton’s outstanding Emergency Measures Office would be added to the list of partners comprising the Safe City Partnership.  As a result Emergency Preparedness has been added as the 6th safety priority for the coalition. The Partnership will support Brampton’s Emergency Preparedness efforts by helping to raise awareness of crisis and emergency planning efforts in Brampton, while recruiting greater involvement by volunteers in the CERV (Community Emergency Response Volunteers) program, an initiative that trains regular citizens to assist emergency staff in the event of a crisis or emergency.

 

(30)

 

For more information on the Brampton Safe City Partnership and its initiatives, please contact:

Paul Damaso, Executive Director, Brampton Safe City Association                

Tel: (905) 793-5484; Fax: (905) 458-7402;

safecity@city.brampton.on.ca; www.bramptonsafecity.ca