Injury is a leading cause of death and disability in Australia, yet most injuries can be prevented.
Preventing injuries can be achieved in many ways:
- Preventing injuries from occurring in the first place by removing a risk altogether.
- Detecting early whether a risk is present and putting in place ways to mitigate or alter exposure to a risk.
- Lessening the impact of an injury by responding as soon as an injury occurs by providing treatment, rehabilitation or support to prevent further injuries.
Public Health Approach to Injury Prevention
A common method to preventing injuries is the Public Health Approach to Injury Prevention, which consists of five stages.
- Surveillance – to work out what the issue is.
- Determinants – to work out what might be causing or influencing the issue.
- Interventions – to develop interventions to address the issue.
- Implementation – to implement the intervention.
- Evaluation – to evaluate the intervention to work out how addressed or influenced.
Learn how you can prevent injuries in your community via the Public Health Approach to Injury Prevention pages via the side menu.
You can also increase your injury prevention capacity by completing the Injury Prevention 101 eLearning module, viewing historic Know Injury webinars and registering for upcoming training events.
