The best way to deal with injuries, among staff or served communities, is to prevent them before they happen.
In their book “Grass Roots Injury Prevention” Diana Samarakkody, Elizabeth Davis and Rod McClure wrote that the way an organization goes about injury prevention can have a big effect on how successful it is. As the title of the book would suggest, they emphasize Grass Roots Injury Prevention (GRIP).
With that in mind, they suggest having a good place to help people learn about injury prevention and safety promotion. That means:
- The venue or location. Choose a place where everyone feels emotionally and physically safe. It must be free of noise from traffic, machinery or children.
- The facilities available in the venue. Be sure to know what is and is not available, such as lighting, drinking water, sanitary facilities, ventilation and access to electricity if using electronic resources.
- Seating. Interactive learning is best when all the group members are able to easily see and hear each other and the facilitator. Sitting in a circle, semicircle or horseshoe is helpful.
- Notes. People might want to take notes, so encourage one person to write the group’s responses somewhere everyone can see. Invite the group to talk about the responses.
