NEIGHBORHOOD/COMMUNITY SAFETY INVENTORY

NEIGHBORHOOD/COMMUNITY SAFETY INVENTORY

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Description: This tool can be used to assess physical and psychosocial safety hazards in a given client’s neighborhood or in a community at large. The tool assesses elements of the physical environmental, psychological, and social dimensions of health in the dimensions model. The inventory promotes identification of safety problems in the neighborhood or community and planning of nursing interventions to resolve identified problems.
Appropriate populations: Any neighborhood or community. May also be used to assess the neighborhood in which a specific individual client or family lives.
Data sources and data collection strategies: Personal observation of the neighborhood and interviews with residents and key informants are excellent means of obtaining information about neighborhood or community safety. Examples of key informants include local police and fire personnel, business and industry leaders, community officials, local disaster planning groups, department of transportation officials, and insurance company representatives. Review of police, fire, and insurance records may also be a source of important environmental safety information.
Use of information: Information derived using the tool can be used to educate individual clients regarding elimination or avoidance of safety hazards. Information may also be helpful in planning community safety education programs, in initiating disaster planning efforts, or to support political activity to enhance neighborhood or community safety. Finally, neighborhood safety information may assist the nurse to take precautions to promote his or her own safety while working in the area. Using information derived from the inventory, the community health nurse develops nursing diagnoses related to safety problems and plans interventions for those problems. Frequently, the interventions needed will require collaboration with other agencies and individuals, but may be initiated by the nurse.

NEIGHBORHOOD/COMMUNITY SAFETY INVENTORY
Neighborhood or community assessed:

_______________________________________
Safety Hazards in the Natural Environment
What is the extent of air pollution? What pollutants are involved? _____________________________________________________________________________________
What is the extent of water pollution? What pollutants are involved? _______________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________
What is the extent of natural radiation in the area? ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Are there other environmental pollutants in the area? _____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Do local weather conditions pose health hazards? ________________________________________________________
Are there drowning hazards (e.g., lakes, rivers) in the area? ___________________________________________________
Do wild animals in the area serve as reservoirs for disease? ________________________________________________
Do stray animals pose a safety or health hazard in the neighborhood? _______________________________________
What poisonous plants or plant allergens grow in the area? ________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

DISASTER ASSESSMENT AND PLANNING GUIDE

Description: This tool is intended to assist community health nurses and other community members to assess the level of disaster preparedness in the community and to plan for effective disaster response. The assessment component of the tool is based on the six dimensions of health in the dimensions model and reflects biophysical, psychological, physical environmental, sociocultural, behavioral, and health system factors influencing disasters and community response to them. Community health nurses and others assessing community disaster preparedness may want to begin the assessment with the Community Disaster Preparedness Checklist (p. 121) to identify areas in which more in-depth assessment is required and then use this tool to direct that in-depth assessment.
Appropriate populations: May be used to assess and plan for disaster preparedness at the community level. May also be used to develop disaster plans for specific health care agencies and institutions or other groups within the community (e.g., schools). Some of the questions also address assessment after a disaster event has occurred.
Data sources and data collection strategies: Sources of data for community disaster assessment and planning may include community historical records, official government documents, existing disaster plans of community agencies and organizations, and interviews with key individuals within the community. Additional sources of data may include local businesses and industries, schools, health departments, civil defense/disaster agencies, and the local chapter of the American Red Cross. Information on community resources may also be available from social and civic organizations and clubs. Area maps and personal observation by the community health nurse and others may also provide important information. Because disaster planning should be a community-wide endeavor, community health nurses will be only one group involved in obtaining assessment data and developing a community disaster plan. Community health nurses, however, may create the impetus for disaster planning and/or coordinate data collection and interpretation and disaster response planning.
Use of information: Data obtained using the tool will be used to identify community disaster potential and to plan means of preventing disasters from occurring or mitigating their adverse effects on the community. Assessment data should be used to develop a general plan of community disaster response that would fit many types of disaster events. Assessment data may also serve as an impetus for educating the general public regarding disaster preparedness.

DISASTER ASSESSMENT AND PLANNING GUIDE

NEIGHBORHOOD/COMMUNITY SAFETY INVENTORY