Issue Date:  -  Tuesday, 5 August 1997

Collie first ThinkSafe Town

The South-West town of Collie has been named as Western Australia's first ThinkSafe Town.

Premier Richard Court today travelled to Collie and presented ThinkSafe Committee chairman Clive Lancaster with a certificate recognising Collie's achievement.

The ThinkSafe Towns concept was developed by the State Government as a way of encouraging communities in regional WA to put the ThinkSafe approach into practice in the community.

Mr Court said the ThinkSafe Towns concept was an important part of the Government's ThinkSafe campaign.

"The ThinkSafe campaign supports the Government's vision for Western Australians to attain the highest standard of living in the world by the year 2000," he said.

"The objective of the campaign is to halve the more than 500 accidental deaths which occur each year in WA by the year 2000.

"The concept is to get maximum results from safety programs through the unifying ThinkSafe theme of "Where there's risk, pause and think".

"This is put into action through the three ThinkSafe SAM steps of Spot the hazard, Assess the risk and Make the changes.

"The aim of the ThinkSafe Campaign is to achieve a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week safety culture in WA at workplaces, at home and on the roads - in fact wherever we are and whatever we are doing."

Mr Court said the State Government believed the ThinkSafe campaign had great potential in regional WA because of the closeknit communities.

"We see Collie as an ideal location with its coal mining, power generation, forest industries, alumina, agricultural and other industries, as well as its strong sense of community," he said.

"By becoming WA's first ThinkSafe Town, Collie is setting a high standard for safety right across the State, and we hope the model being developed in Collie will be adopted by many other towns in regional WA.

"The people of Collie have proved their commitment to safety in all areas of life, with a high level of co-operation between the shire council, industry in and around Collie, services and community groups and the Collie community itself."

At Collie today, the Premier also officially launched the ThinkSafe Video, thought to be the biggest video production exercise ever undertaken in WA, with more than 100,000 copies being distributed to industry and the public.

The video introduces us to a typical family who take us through the ThinkSafe SAM steps of Spot the hazard, Assess the risk and Make the changes at work, at home and on the roads.

The Premier said the video was one that everyone could understand and relate to.

"At the affordable price of $2, we would like to see the video in every home and workplace in WA," Mr Court said.

The ThinkSafe Video is available through Coles Supermarkets' 55 stores across the State.

The first bulk orders for the video were also processed today, with Worsley Alumina Refinery the first to hand a cheque to Coles for 1200 copies of the video - one for each of the company's employees.