About Us

Our Mission is to:

Continuously improve the safety of individuals and communities on the South Shore by enhancing a culture of safety and wellness.

Our Goals are to:

• Reduce the incidence of bullying
• Pull community partners together to cooperatively reduce the incidence of suicide
• Collaborate with successful seniors falls prevention initiatives to reduce falls in seniors
• Reduce the number of falls in children 0-4 years of age 
• To reduce the number of workplace injuries for youth

Things got underway officially for the South Shore Safe Communities Iniative on November 8th, 2003 with our community launch. We began our "Race to Safety" together with community members and leaders in Lunenburg and Queens County.

We were pleased to have Paul Kells, who presented our cheque and MLA and Environment Minister Kerry Morash with us for the event. We were also pleased to have representation from all six Municipal Units in Lunenburg and Queens Counties.

The South Shore Safe Communities is part of the National Safe Communities organization. The National Safe Communities Organization was started by Paul Kells, a gentleman who lost his son Sean in 1994 when a highly flammable chemical Sean was working with exploded. It was Sean's third day on the job. He had not received any health and safety training and was not told that what he was doing was dangeous.

The National Safe Communities foundation was launched in 1996, and since that time over 40 communities across Canada have become a "designated" Safe Community by the foundation. They are all working to make Canada the safest country in the world to live, learn, work and play;one community at a time. Please visit the National Safe Communities website for additional information.

The South Shore Safe Communities have four main areas of focus.

They are:

• Bullying Prevention- Working to prevent bullying with schools to create more safe and caring environments, to educate parents on how to deal with bullying incidents, and by making people more aware of community resources. 

• Suicide Prevention- This group works closely with the bullying prevention working group. It is working towards the prevention of suicide in a variety of ways, one such way being the promotion of protective factors for youth. They are also working on educating front line workers in suicide prevention, working with media around the reporting of suicide, promoting crisis phone lines with trained staff, and restricting the availability of lethal means. 

• Falls 0-4 years- This group has developed a curriculum resource for preschool centers called "I Spy The Safety Fly" which was recently piloted at two childcare facilities in Queens County. The results of this pilot were amazing! As well, they are currently providing baby gates to families at no cost, in association with local family resource centers.The South Shore Safe Communities Association also supports community activities working to prevent Falls in Seniors.

  

Workplace Safety- This group is focusing on preventing workplace injuries in youth. They are currently exploring ways to actively involve youth in this endevor, as well as creative ways to provide safety information to them

Click here to take the Passport to Safety Test!!!! This is a test you will never fail.