Dear Editor, Safety is one of the most challengeable issues in urban management. Safety promotion has been defined as a process for ensuring existence and maintenance of a condition, which is required for an acceptable level of safety (1). Structural and behavioral changes in the community through inter-sectoral collaboration are necessary for safety promotion. The process may be used at various international, national, and local levels with a top-down or bottom-up approach (2)...

Introduction: Home safety plays an important role in community health, especially when it comes to children and elderly. This study aimed to determine the role of residential area in home safety.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 459 houses in the central area and outskirt of Mashhad were chosen based on cluster sampling. Home safety was assessed using the safety questionnaire of the national plan for prevention of domestic accidents. The questionnaire assesses five parts which are kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom, balcony and roof, and the staircase. The overall home safety score and scores of its five sections were calculated according to the questionnaire guide. Demographic factors including gender, marital status, occupation, number of household and educational level were also recorded.Results: The two groups of houses had different safety scores in rooms and bathroom sections, in addition their external safety scores (balconies, courtyards, rooftops and parking) was different (p<0.001). Among the demographic factors, gender and education of the head of the household played an important role, i.e. the female gender and education level of less than high school diploma were associated with decreased home safety in both central and outskirt regions; the decrease was more significant in the outskirts.Conclusion: Safety of houses is affected by the region. Therefore, monitoring constructions especially in outskirts is essential. Strengthening foundations that support women headed households and increasing the level of public information can play an important role in promoting home safety.

Background: The objective of the current study was to evaluate outcomes of a program to prevent severe and less severe unintentional child injuries among the different social strata under WHO Safe Community program. Specifically, the aim was to study effectiveness of Safe Community program for reducing child injury.Methods: A quasi-experimental design was used, with pre- and post-implementation registrations covering the children (0 -15 years) in the program implementation area (population 41, 000) and in a neighboring control municipality (population 26, 000) in Ostergotland County, Sweden.Results: Boys from not vocationally active households displayed the highest pre-intervention injury rate in both the control and intervention areas. Also in households in which the vocationally significant member was employed, boys showed higher injury rates than girls. Households in which the vocationally significant member was self-employed, girls exhibited higher injury rates than boys in the intervention area. After 6 years of program activity, the injury rates for boys and girls in employed category and injury rates for girls in self-employed category displayed a decreasing trend in the intervention area. However, in the control area injury rate decreased only for boys of employed families.Conclusion: The study indicated that almost no changes in injury rates in the control area suggested that the reduction of child injuries in the intervention area between 1983 and 1989 was likely to be attributable to the safety promotion program. Therefore, the current study indicates that Safe Community program seems to be successful for reducing child injuries.

IntroductionSome urban spaces, due to their structural and social features, create situations in which criminals are encouraged to commit crimes. Although in these spaces, the rate of crimes may be low, these spaces induce the sense of defenseless to citizens and give rise to the sense of unsafety and fear among people. As a result, the use of such spaces decrease gradually and their emptiness results in the situations that are proper for committing crimes. This fact is more probable in central and worn areas due to the dominant physical and social conditions in these areas. These areas are known as “ defenseless spaces” , which are prone to crimes more than other urban spaces. Factors such as the emptiness of the environment, chaos, and weariness lead to the creation of such unsafe spaces. On the other word, these are spaces that do not have any positive effects on the surrounding environment as well as the people who use them. Urban defenseless spaces are areas that according to their physical properties, they are more suitable spaces for committing crimes relative to other urban areas. These spaces often do not belong to any body and even if they have proprietress, they are abandoned. Urban defenseless spaces are so important in urban studies due to their numerous effects on the urban lives especially their effect on the creation of fear and unsafety. So, performing systematic research in this field develops new insights. Harandi neighborhood in the central area of Tehran faces with different types of physical and social problems. So, these problems are effective in creating defenseless spaces in this neighborhood. In order to investigate defenseless spaces in Harandi neighborhood, the safety audit model was used. ...