Safety rounds in public environments: experience of a new tool for prevention of accidental injuries

Abstract

Accident prevention concerns everyone in society. A large number of organisations have the responsibility and the means to fight the increasing injury rate. Many preventive measures require changes and improvements to the physical environment. In Sollentuna, Sweden, the work concentrated on making inventories of the pedestrian physical environment and pressuring those responsible to take measures to correct deficiencies discovered through the municipal "safety round." The inventory of injury risk factors was documented in a report along with information about the type of risk-object, its geographical location, and those responsible for remedial measures. The environmental deficiencies were marked on a map and most of them were photographed. With the help of expert know-how and local knowledge, 88 risk factors were identified in the area of investigation, which covered slightly over 1 square kilometer. With the report as a basis, those responsible for countermeasures were contacted by letter and asked to take measures to eliminate the risk factors. The responsibility for eliminating these risk factors was divided among various authorities, organizations, and private persons. Despite a lack of legal support for the demand for countermeasures most of those responsible proved to have a positive attitude towards eliminating the accident risk factors that had been identified during the safety rounds. The method worked satisfactorily and the risk factors were eliminated after one or two contacts in almost all cases.