Safe Community Concept Research Articles

THE SAFE COMMUNITY CONCEPT – A SUCCESSFUL TOOL FOR INJURY PREVENTION AND SAFETY PROMOTION

Injuries remain to be one of the leading causes of de­ath and disability in any region of the world. Interna­tional Safe Community Programme is most important programme for injury prevention and safety promo­tion in community. The aim of study was to introduce the concept of Safe Community as a successful tool for injury prevention and safety promotion. For this study, the scientific literature overview, document analysis, and descriptive analysis were used. The Safe Community model is a long-term, sustaina­ble, and coordinated program, based on partnership and collaboration, covering all genders, ages, envi­ronments, and situations. Safe Community concept targets vulnerable groups and high-risk environments. Programme documents the frequency and causes of injuries, and has evaluation mechanisms. Commu­nity itself play the leading role in Safe Community. Reduced injury rate/morbidity, disability, and mor­tality from injuries, and improved quality of life, are the results of comprehensive sustainable preventive work at the community level. The subcategory Safe Schools are promising preventive programmes in­tended to enhance child safety.

Natural Disasters’ Management and Detection of Priority Problems for Future Research

Natural disasters threaten the humans from time immemorial. They are caused both by the processes in the Earth core and Earth surface, or in the atmosphere, and by the processes in the vicinity of the Planet. From the current knowledge it follows that in human system various phenomena take place in the development process that are the expression of its development or of the development of systems that create it. The research was targeted to natural disasters such as: avalanches; hot wet summer days; drought; dams rupture; floods; tsunami; earthquakes; volcanic eruptions; landslides; rocks tumbling down (rock fall); forest fires; wind storms; tornados; excessive rain or snow falls ; and gas erosions from the core. It identifies deficits at natural disaster management from the viewpoint of safe community concept that has been promoted by the EU since 2004.

Safe community

To analyze the effectiveness of prevention programs for intentional and unintentional injuries, based on safe community principles, in children and adolescents. An electronic search was performed in the MEDLINE and LILACS database, corresponding to the period from 2000 to 2005. For prevention of unintentional injuries, we used the following keywords: injury and prevention and community or population and intervention. For prevention of intentional injuries, we used the following keywords: violence and prevention and community or population and intervention; the age range from zero to 18 years was used as a threshold. The inclusion criteria were: original articles which evaluated the effectiveness of interventions using more than one strategy, involving a whole community or group, published in Portuguese, English or Spanish. 152 studies were obtained as a result. Considering the inclusion criteria, five articles were found on unintentional injury prevention, one about intentional injury prevention and one paper addressing these two issues. All studies analyzed demonstrate benefits to children and adolescents, but in different proportions. A restricted number of programs using the safe community concept were found. The investigations analyzed in this study presented positive results. Increased efforts to further develop this evidence are still needed, respecting local characteristics, and developing evaluation indicators that allow for a better comparison between different studies.

Safe Community in different settings

This paper describes the Safe Community concept and how communities aspired to safety through a structured, collaborative approach rather than a community that is already perfectly safe.The Safe Community movement started in Sweden at the end of the 1980s and was based on community-based injury prevention activities. Safe Communities are the communities that meet a set of 12 criteria (later changed to six indicators) set out by the WHO Collaborating Centre (WHO CC) on Community Safety Promotion at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. The communities may apply to the WHO CC to be designated as an official member of the WHO International Safe Community Network. To date, 83 communities around the world have been designated as members of the Safe Community Network, ranging in population from 1000 to nearly 2 million. Lidkjöping in Sweden was the first designated safe community in 1989 and Rapla in Estonia was the last, designated in October 2004.The movement recognizes that it is the people who not only live, learn, work and play in a community but also best understand their community's specific problems, needs, assets and capacities. Their involvement and commitment are critical factors in identifying and mobilizing resources so as to create an effective, comprehensive and coordinated community-based action on unintentional and intentional injuries.

The community safety approach in Falun, Sweden — is it possible to characterise the most effective prevention endeavours and how long-lasting are the results?

The safe community concept was put into practice in order to reduce the number of unintentional injuries occurring in the Falun municipality. A community-based injury prevention programme was initiated in 1989 and has been gradually built up since that time. The prevention endeavours were based primarily on active intervention strategies through the provision of information, supervision, education and training. After 5 years of an active intervention programme, a significant effect was found as regards the injury rates for both outpatients as well as patients discharged from hospitals. The objectives of this study were: to examine whether the character of the prevention endeavours was a determining factor on the outcome (recorded as in-patient injury cases); to evaluate the effects of this programme, which is still in practice, compared to long-term historical trends; and to draw comparisons with other community-based programmes. A category of ‘most targeted risks’ was identified as being different with respect to how the injury mechanisms involved were targeted through the programme activities. The development within the injury rates for this group, comprised predominantly of injuries caused by falls at the same level, was significantly different than those for the groups categorized as ‘less targeted’ and ‘non-targeted’. The general effect of the programme appeared to be a neutralization of an otherwise upward trend in the injury rates. A particular effect was demonstrated in the number of fall injuries, including femoral fractures. It was also noted that there was still a reduction in injuries after 7 years. However, it was possible to surmise a waning effect during the last 2 years of the programme while still in progress. This observation suggests that a community-based injury prevention programme must be continuously renewed and reinforced.

Impact of the Safe Community program in Harstad on the incidence of injuries

Objectives Since 1987, the Harstad community in Norway has run an injury prevention program according to the Safe Community approach. The effectiveness of this approach in reducing injury rates is poorly documented. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the Harstad program on the incidence of injuries. Methods We used data from the National Injury register of Norway and compared age-adjusted incidence rates and standardized rate ratios of injuries in Harstad and three control communities for the period 1992-1997. Results Harstad had the second highest rates for both all injuries and fractures. No reduction in the incidence of injuries in Harstad was observed from 1992-1997. The injury rates in 1992-1997 were similar to the rates recorded in 1985/86. Conclusions The injury prevention program in Harstad has not reduced overall injury rates. The Safe Community concept is an organizational strategy, but implementation of proven and targeted risk reduction measures will be needed if community-based programs are to result in risk reductions.

The effects of a community-based injury prevention study in Falunr Sweden - Outpatient and hospital-based injury records

In order to reduce the number of non-intentional injuries in Falun, the Safe Community concept was put into practice. The program was initiated in 1989 and built up gradually. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effects of the prevention efforts by studying the changes in injury rates over a five-year period. The population of Falun (55,000) was compared with that of bordering municipalities, the entire county of Dalarna and Sweden as a whole. The outcome evaluation was based on information from two independent registers. As far as outpatient injuries were concerned, a local surveillance system was implemented as part of the regular clinical work. Hospital discharge registers were also studied to obtain information as to the number of injured individuals, as well as the number of patients hospitalized with a diagnosis of injury. After five years, a decrease of 23.8% in outpatient injuries was found in Falun while the decrease was significantly less (8.6%) in the bordering municipalities. Injuries leading to hospital admissions showed an average annual decrease of 7.2% in Falun from 1989 to 1994. In the control area, the corresponding annual decrease was 1.5%. Femoral fractures showed an average annual decrease of 6.3% in Falun while they remained basically unchanged in the control area. However, the data retrieved from the national register (excluding double counting), revealed a somewhat different picture. While the incidence rates remained at about the same level in Falun, there was a 2% average annual increase of injured individuals in the country as a whole. It was nevertheless concluded that the injury rates, for both outpatients and inpatients, had been affected gradually during the five years when the Safe Community program was in effect. The annual decrease supports the thesis that this effect was due to the program, which was built up gradually. Other possible explanations, e.g. registration effects, changed admission policy and random fluctuations, are discussed but none of them seem reasonable.

Safe Child Penarth: experience with a Safe Community strategy for preventing injuries to children

Objectives—To evaluate the process of establishing a Safe Community project for children. Design—A descriptive study. Setting—Penarth, a town (population 20 430) Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. Subjects—3943 children and their...

Community safety promotion at local, regional, and national levels. Summary report from a workshop on local organizing and societal contributions with regard to the development of Safe Communities, held at the Third International Conference on Safe Communities, June 6-8, 1994, Harstad, Norway

Abstract Community approaches are widely employed in health and safety promotion. In this article, some of the basic theoretical and conceptual elements in the field of community safety promotion are critically reviewed in the light of their practical application. Among others, the Safe Community concept is compared with the concept of Healthy Cities. The practical implications are discussed from two perspectives: first, local organizing and participation and, second, the importance of contributions and support from the regional and national levels. A number of international examples illustrates the conclusion that there is a need for further development of the Safe Community model and what is understood as Community Safety Promotion.

Safe Communities in industrialised versus less industrialised countries: different models, similarities and differences

Abstract The Safe Community concept originated in Northern Europe in the nineteen eighties. At the time at which the concept gained importance, society in Northern Europe was already very egalitarian and therefore different sectors of society could come together to participate in endeavours to promote safety and good health in their environment. The situation is very different in most countries of Asia, Africa and South America. Not only are these societies highly fragmented and hierarchical, but also at a very different stage in technical development. Therefore, it is important to examine whether the concept of safe communities as developed in Northern Europe can be transplanted to these less industrialised countries (LICs). The situation being faced by LICs has no precedence in the countries of Northern Europe. Modern technology is being used in social structures which are very non-egalitarian. Decision makers and professionals come from socio-economic backgrounds which are very different from the majority of the population. In such a situation it is not possible to transfer safe community guidelines blindly from Northern Europe to LICs. These issues are discussed in detail in this paper.