Safe Community

City hall Novi Sad viewed from Petrovaradin fortress

Safe Community Novi Sad
Country: Republic of Serbia
Number of inhabitants: 299,294
Programme started: 2001
International Safe Communities Network Membership: Designation year: 2009
Info: http://www.gradnovisad.org.yu
http://www.bezbednazajednica.org

Full application report: www.phs.ki.se/csp/pdf/applicationreports/novi_sad.pdf

Contact:

Prim.dr Mirjana Milankov, MD, PhD
Safe Community Project Leader, Republic of Serbia
National Center for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion
D.Spasic 13
21000 Novi Sad
Serbia
Phone: +381 65 83 93 111

e-mail: drmirjana.milankov@gmail.com

City hall; Dunavski park

Novi Sad is the capital of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Backa District. Novi Sad is located on the border of the Backa and Srem regions, on the banks of the Danube River and Danube – Tisa- Danube Canal, while facing the northern slopes of Fruska Gora Mountain. Since it was founded in 1694, Novi Sad became the centre of Serbian culture and earned its nickname Serbian Athens. Novi Sad is political, economic, university and cultural center well blended with
historical traditions and modern developments.

Vision:
To create a safe and healthy living and working environment in Novi Sad by promoting a safe and healthy culture, so that the City of Novi Sad could be locally, nationally and internationally recognised as a city that is both safe and perceived to be safe.

Mission:
To reduce the frequency of injuries and accidents through collaboration of different community groups, local corporations, business, organizations, associations, schools, health care providers, government agencies, NGO and people of the Novi Sad.

Motto: Safe, Healthy, Happy!

The programme covers the following safety promotion activities:

The Safe Community program is being carried out and guided by National center for injury prevention and safety promotion. Leaders of Safe Community Novi Sad are: assistant professor, Dragan Jovanovic, PhD, transport engineer and assistant Dragana Coric, MSc, lawyer.

The field of Safe Community Novi Sad activities is increasing the safety level in Novi Sad and improving the quality of life by protection and improvement of the environment; promoting humane relationships and tolerance; inclusion of marginal groups; preventing injuries and violence according to occurrence and population groups.

The Safe Community Novi Sad consists of different profiled experts working as volunteers as team coordinators. The Safe Community program is being carried out by teams: Safe children; Safe school; Safe elderly; Safe work place; Safe handicapped; Safe traffic; Safe sport; Violence prevention; Fire prevention.
The Safe Community Novi Sad has been meeting on a regular basis since 2004, with meetings held on a weekly basis.

By the decision of the City Council, the City of Novi Sad agreed to participate together with the National center for injury prevention and safety promotion in the Safe Community project and the Safe Community international network. By taking part in the project the City of Novi Sad took on the obligation to make possible the realization of six international indicators for Safe Communities. To accomplish the above mentioned tasks, the City of Novi Sad Council, in cooperation with National center for injury prevention and safety promotion, formed the Novi Sad Safe Community Council. The Novi Sad Safe Community Council consist of chair - Sasha Igic,PhD, deputy mayor; deputy chairlady – Prof.Dr Sanja Stojanovic and eight members.

FOR THE AGE GROUP

Children 0-14 years:

Information:
Different kinds of written information material are produced and delivered about:
-Care and home, leisure and traffic safety
-Safety equipment and how to obtain them

Education and trainings:
-Safe and Healthy mother –Safe and Healthy Child
-Parent as a role models
-The school of parenthood
-Places that are and places that aren’t playgrounds
-Call 92, 93, 94 – emergency phone line
-How to behave when alone at home
-First aid
-Violence Prevention
-Things I can to do to maintain safety at home, in the street, at school
-Introducing to persons whom we can ask for help on the street

Public events:

Let us hold on to each child -The children are our future
-Make every mother and child count
-Me and my Mother
-My favourite sport
-Safe, healthy, happy!
-Fiery Quiz

Projects:
-Safe Kindergarten + Cleanness = Safe and Cleanness Kindergarten
-Safe School+ Cleanness=Safe and Cleanness School

- Let not the fire swallow me
- Who will be faster and who will be higher – Fire prevention

Youth 15-24 years:

Education and trainings:
-Mediation-solving conflict situations
-Drug addiction, alcoholism, and smoking
-Environmental safety
-Safety in sport's,
-First aid

Campaign:
-Not without me
-Hurry up slowly (Fastina lente)
-Stop the fire

Adults 25-64 years:

Education and training:
-Injury prevention at workplaces (including accidents and work-related illnesses) -Prevention of traffic injuries and at sport activities
-Fire prevention
-Falls prevention
-First aid

Elderly 65+ years:

Education and training:
-Safety elderly
-Fire prevention
-Falls prevention

Public event:
- To grandmas and grandpas with love
- Life's sunny autumn

AT THE FOLLOWING ENVIRONMENTS:

Home:

Education and trainings:
-Motivation on injury prevention at home
-Fire prevention

Information:
Information and discussions with parents take place four times after the first home visit telling them about the risk of accidents in relation to the child’s development, reviewing checklists, and talking about different kinds of equipment.

Traffic:

Education and trainings:
-Traffic injury prevention in Vojvodina
-Road safety is no accident
-Basic traffic signs
-Safety in traffic
-Why children must not sit at front seat of a car
-Introducing the basic traffic concepts
-Crossing the street over pedestrian, underground and over ground crossing

Education and training: Starting school - starting participating in traffic lementary School “Vasa Stajic“

Public event:
-Me in traffic

Project:
-Workshops as a preventive in children's safety in traffic

Occupational:

Education and training:
-A healthy person at a healthy working place
-Educating persons in safety and health at work
-Falls prevention
-Fire prevention
-First aid

Structural changes:
- Assessing work place risks for companies
- Assessing the working environment
- System check-ups for the persons working at increased risk places

Project:
- Study of preserving and improving health and safety at work in Vojvodina

Public event:
-TV, newspapers and radio talk about safe work places.

School:

Education and training:
-Safe School in a Safe Community
-School and the Health of the children
-First day at school
-Starting school - starting participating in traffic
-Way from home to school

Structural changes:
-Monitoring duties of teachers in the halls during the breaks
-Monitoring duties of pupils at the registration desk
-Night monitoring is done by a night watchman.
-Special security measures: during excursions, during pupils’ parties, special traffic police control during the
first week in September, the entire school year.
-Police control in the school surroundings has been reinforced during the school year.
-The school entrance and the school yard have been particularly illuminated at night.
-Video monitoring

Project:
-Behaviour codex

Sports:
Sport clubs are facing stricter regulations on safety at their venues. Training methods and protection in sports have also been targeted in order to prevent accidents. Safe sport Team works in tight collaboration with local sport clubs. They also do have a good contact with local sport and leisure time shops regarding safe equipment advertising.

Leisure:
Children playgrounds: Official playgrounds are preschools and schools yards. The playground for the youngest are supplied with safe equipment, and are situated at parks and safe places. For children, also sport grounds are reconstructed, with proper lights, so that children can play during the nights, especially in the summer.

Household:
The Safe children Team makes an effort to inform parents about the risk of injuries of small children at home. For this purpose, a series of small short lasting program on local radio and newspapers have been started.

Seniors:
Presentations and discussion on injury risk and prevention in seniors are to be offered in Senior Clubs.

Traffic:
The Safe traffic Team started with public talk about safe traffic in safe community. For children, talk about using helmet has begun, as the children still do not use it. Proper marking of the bicycles is a very important step in making the traffic safe. There is an ongoing campaign, supported by program to persuade people to use helmets while cycling and motorcycling.

Environmental activities:
For safe moving of the disabled persons and their inclusion, marking the side walks and lowering the edges of the sidewalks, reconstruction of the access and placing slopes.

Activities:
-Installing balustrades on staircases at the apartment buildings entrances;
-Installing light sensors at the apartment building entrances.

Violence prevention:
SOS phone line

Education and trainings:
-Stop violence against women
-Stop violence against children

Public events:
-Violence prevention week
-Challenges women are met by during transition, work, family, violence, discrimination -Humanitarian ball

Projects:
-Violence among the young in schools at the City of Novi Sad territory
-The Primary Prevention of Sexual Abuse of Children in Families

Suicide prevention:
Suicide prevention is on the agenda of health sectors and psychological consultations.

Project:
- Before crossing the fence call...

Programs aiming at” High risk-groups”:

Including and making safe the disabled persons should advance the inclusion by overcoming the architectural barriers, art and performing expression, decreasing isolation and attach importance to humane relationships and tolerance and presenting the level of safety in Novi Sad.

Project:
-We feel safe and good in the Novi Sad Safe Community

Public events:
-Stronger together with songs and words
-We like music, too
-We are drawing pictures together

Surveillance of injuries:

The data of injuries rate from City of Novi Sad added with selected data from official statistics at Institute of Public Health “Vojvodina”. The data will be followed quarterly. The report is published yearly in “Health status of the City of Novi Sad citizens” and is accessible to public at the Institute website.* * (Source: M,Jeftic and others: “Health status of the City of Novi Sad citizens 2007” Institute for Public Health “Vojvodina”, Novi Sad , 2008.)

Mortality:

-Total: 3.699
-Injuries, Poisoning and consequence of external factors - 4,8 %

Out- patient morbidity:

General Practitioners:

-Total morbidity- 362.832
-Injuries, not presented, shown as “other”

Labour Medicine:

-Total morbidity- 63.287
- Injuries, Poisoning and consequence of external factors - 3.817 or 6%

Children's Health Protection:

-Total morbidity- 134.253
-Injuries, not presented, shown as “other”

School Children Health Protection:

-Total morbidity- 130.674
- Injuries, Poisoning and consequence of external factors – 6.336 or 4,8 %

In - patient morbidity:

-Total: 71.808

-Injuries and poisoning: 3.577 or 4,9%

Produced information material, pamphlets:

Papers, Monograph, Sticklers, Reports on activities, Website.

Staff:

Safe Community Novi Sad
Assistant professor Dragan Jovanovic, PhD - Leader
Assistant Dragana Coric, MSc -Leader
Mila Radovanovic, Psychologist, Coordinator, Safe children
Jasmina Pastonjicki,prof., Coordinator, Safe school
Gradimir Dimitrijevic , MD , MSc, Coordinator, Safe elderly
Branko Milicevic , MD , MSc, Coordinator, Safe work place
Zoran Alimpic, Engineer, MSc, Coordinator, Safe traffic
Ivana Sremac, MD, Coordinator, Safe sport
Aida Skakic, Journalist, Coordinator, Violence Prevention
Ljubica Krnjaic, Engineer, Coordinator, Fire prevention
Blazenka Kaldesic Spasojevic, Psychologists, Safe handicapped
Dunja Mitrovic, Designer, MSc, Publishing and Web design Team
Vesna Krcmar, Economist, Marketing and mass media collaboration
Anita Vasovic, Economist MSc, Marketing and mass media collaboration Dusanka Milicevic, Engineer, Secretary

Number: 14

Professions part time: Medical doctors (3), Psychologists (2), Engineers (4), Designer (1), Journalist (1), Jurist (1), Economist (2)

Organization:

National Center or Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, Novi Sad

Specific intersectional leadership group:

City Council, the Public utility companies: City sanitation; City parks; Public companies under competency of Novi Sad : Institute for constructional development of the city, Sports-business centre "Vojvodina”;

City Planning; City information centre "Apolo"; City flats, City public transportation company " Novi Sad ";

Institut for Public Health „Vojvodina“, Primary Health Center „Novi Sad“, Gerontology Center, Center for Social work, Institute for worker, City Museum, Medical Faculty, Faculty for technical science, Medical Secondary School „7.april“,Elementary Schools"Vasa Stajic" and “Svetozar Markovic Toza”, Preschools "Happy Childhood" and „Trnko“, Administrative center for including the Romanies, Police, NGOs:

„EcoFire“, „Parents“, „Tracak“, „SOS phone line“, „Sunce“, Students Union, Dance clubs, Sport clubs, TV and radio stations, journals, newspapers, etc. all participate in the program.

International commitments:

Study visit:
-Karolinska Institutet, 2008

Participation in Safe Community conferences:
-Suvon, South Korea, 2002
-Helsinki, Finland, 2004
-Bergen, Norway, 2005
-Backi Petrovac, Serbia, 2008
-Novi Sad, Serbia, 2009

Hosting Safe Community Conferences:

-International South Eastern Safe Community Conference, Backi Petrovac, 2008
-1st. Regional South Eastern Europe Conference on Safe Communities, Novi Sad , 2009

Hosting”Travelling Seminars”: Not Yet!

Leaders:

Assistant professor Dragan Jovanovic, PhD


Assistant Dragana Coric, MSc