Big Changes Coming to Safe Communities America

The Safe Communities America® model engages local partners who care about safety, uses data to identify leading causes of injury and makes a plan to address the issues using proven methods and measuring success. Safe Communities America has long been an accreditation program of the National Safety Council, however after June 30, 2018, NSC will no longer administer the program.

Here are a few things you should know about the transition:

• NSC is no longer accepting new applications
• Our partner, the University of Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center, is facilitating the program while a search continues for a new parent organization
• For more information, contact [email protected]

Success in Local Safe Communities

• In a recent NSC study, after 10 years of rising injury rates in one community, the decision to seek Safe Community accreditation was followed by a two-year decline in injury hospitalizations; nearly 300 hospitalizations may have been prevented, saving the community more than $14 million in healthcare costs
• A long-standing smoke alarm installation program in one Safe Community has shown that fire deaths have been reduced by 74%
• A comprehensive approach to reducing prescription drug overdoses in a Midwestern Safe Community has resulted in 4.5 tons of medications collected in drop boxes, hundreds of clinicians trained in effective pain management without opioids, a communitywide campaign on addiction and treatment, and training for first responders on naloxone use

Find out how your community can become an accredited Safe Community.

Watch: A Safe Community in Action