title: The Risk Line: a special telephone line to provide means of reporting potential dangers and to increase public participation.
abstract: Injuries constitute a significant public health problem. There is a risk of injury in any environment in which persons are present. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and experiences from the Risk Line. The Risk Line is a special telephone number to provide means of reporting potential risks for injuries and dangerous products and to increase public participation in injury reporting. Various strategies have been used to make the Risk Line well known in the population. Weekly reports on the risk of playground, traffic, recreational, and residential injuries and dangerous products have been distributed to those who are responsible for eliminating these hazards. The major risk environments reported were traffic, recreational, residential environments, and playgrounds. Seventy-seven percent of the reported hazards had been eliminated. A majority of the public (72%) who had phoned the Risk Line stated that they had become more observant and aware of risks for injuries. In conjunction with injury statistics and safety inspections, information from the Risk Line can contribute to give an improved overall picture of where priorities are needed in safety promotion and injury prevention work.
authors.affiliation: Karolinska Institutet, Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Social Medicine, SE-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden. lothar.schelp@srv.se
authors.forename: Lothar
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schelp
authors.forename: Gudrun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.forename: Mona-Lisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Björk
mesh_terms: D003256:Community Participation; D015277:Hotlines; D006801:Humans; D018570:Risk Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*