Affiliate Safe Community Support Centre - Norwegian Safety Promotion Centre

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Identity:
The Norwegian Safety Promotion Centre is established to cover the activities and ambitions of all Safe Community partners; Harstad municipality, Hålogaland Hospital, Harstad University college, Midtre Hålogaland Police District and Midtre Hålogaland State Road Administration. The areas of operation for this resource centre include the study and prevention of non-intentional injuries as well as those caused by violence. The work combines the principles of public health practices with research.

The programs and visions are intended the approach of linking praxis and theory. While some of staff members are employed permanently and others by respective partner organisations in the Safe Community, most of the members have a long experience in the field of injury prevention locally, regionally and internationally.

Role:
The Centre's original activities an be described as follows:
1- Supporting the injury prevention work in local community.
2- Supporting for further development of an injury surveillance system in all three Hålogaland hospitals and expanding the access to the database.
3- Encouraging neighbouring communities.
4- Influencing Norwegian communities and Counties.
5- Arranging courses, seminars, workshops and travelling Safe Community seminars.
6- Arranging site visits.
7- Finding support for national conferences.
8- Obtaining core funding for research and staffing
9- Dissemination information and disseminating reports on injury prevention successes and reasons for possible failures (accessible and user friendly)
10- Opportunities for regional and national support.
11- Assisting in expansion of safe communities movement nationally and internationally.
12- Sustaining a data base for safe communities and safety promotion initiatives
13- In collaboration with WHO CC sustaining the international Safe Communities Network.

Aims of the Centre are:
The main objectives of the centre can be described as a "Workshop-function". It includes method developing, that can give models for both organisation's structure and practical working methods:
· working methods and process tools in local society's injury prevention activities generally and for prioritised areas in collaboration with National health institutions and Agencies.
· methods for co-ordinating the local injury prevention efforts, including areas of traffic, work, home, school and leisure. If desired as part focussing on total local society's development.
· methods for implementing of criteria, injury prevention work must be deeply rooted in municipalities plan and decision making organisations.
· contribute to developing methods and tools to ensure a good injury data registration, including both primary health care, emergency rooms and hospitals.
· contribute in working with critic reviewing of criteria for safe community, and aiming to further developing the concept.

Current Safety Promotion Activities:

Disseminating experiences both nationally and internationally
Several members of the NSPC has participated actively in the national, regional and international Safe Community events, seminars, conferences.

Participated in international conferences as following:

• 4th International Safe Communities Conference, 1995, McMurray, Canada.
• 5th International Safe Communities Conference, 1996, Melbourne, Australia.
  
• 7th International Safe Communities Conference, 1998, Rotterdam. Netherlands.
  
• 8th International Safe Communities Conference. 1999, Vienna, Austria.
  
• 10th International Safe Communities Conference, 2001, Alaska, USA
  
• 11th International Safe Communities Conference, 2002, Rainy River District, Ontario, Canada
  
• 12th International Safe Communities Conference, 2003, Hong Kong, China
  
• The World 5th Congress on Injury Prevention and Control. 2000 New Delhi, India
  
• The World 6th Congress on Injury Prevention and Control. 2002 Montreal, Canada
  
• The Second National Conference on Injury Prevention and Control. 1998. Melbourne, Australia
  
• The 1st International Conference on cost calculation and cost effectiveness in Safe Communities, 2001, Viborg, Denmark.
  
• The 4th International Conference on Measurement Burden of Injuries, 2002, Montreal, Canada
  
• Nordic Conference on Risk Assessment, 2002, Klepp, Norway.
  
• The 1st Baltic Nordic Advanced Course on Safety Promotion Research, 2000, Latvia
  
• The 2nd Baltic Nordic Advanced Course on Safety Promotion Research, 2002, Estonia
  
• ICCH 10 (International Conference on Circumpolar Health): 1996. Alaska, USA.
  
• ICCH 11 (International Conference on Circumpolar Health): 2000. Harstad, Norway.

Publications:
In addition to the information distributed in the local community and the Traffic Injury Report, Dr. Børge Ytterstad has contributed significantly on publishing in national and international journals.

Børge Ytterstad, Ph.D, Surgeon

Network:
The NSPC has a Safe Community information database function, The Centre editing the "Safe Community Weekly News" electronically and translated to many other languages. The newsletter is a source for information on Safe Communities and their injury prevention and safety promotion activities

Staff:
Bjørn Nygaard (Director)
Yousif Rahim (Coordinator)
Ellen Nikolaisen (Injury Surveillance Secretary)
Børge Ytterstad (Research leader)

Further information
Norwegian Safety Promotion Centre
Havnagata 1
9405 Harstad
Norway
Phone: +47 77027138
Fax: +47 77027101
Email: Yousif.Rahim@harstad.kommune.no
Website: www.norsafety.com

Updated by Moa Sundström, 2002-10-29 14:39 .