Safety of humans is an important factor that affects health overall, and injuries are one of the major public-health problems in the world. The purposes of this study were to describe the International safe Community movement which contributes to the injury prevention and safety promotion all over the world, and to identify out the application and developmental strategies for Korea.

A review was done of previous research, reviews, and reports on the history, concepts, basic principles, and recommendations for actions of the Safe Community.

For this study, the application strategies of the International Safe Community movement in Korea were examined to deduce the strengths of the safe Community program. Community-based injury prevention work according to the International Safe Community model is a successful and cost-effective way of reducing injuries in the community.

Through the International Safe Community program, communities are able to realize a healthy community and achieve improved quality of lives for the people, which is the ultimate objective of the Safe Community model. In addition, it will contribute to the economic vitalization and gain through energy and enhancement of productivity of people.

The purposes of this study was to develop a comprehensive community-based fall prevention program and to test the effects of the program on the muscle strength, postural balance and fall efficacy for elderly people.

The design of this study was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. There were 28 participants in the experimental group and 29 in the control group. The program consisted of balance exercises, elastic resistance exercises and prevention education. The program was provided five times a week for 8 weeks and each session lasted 90 minutes. Data were analyzed using χ²-test, independent t-test and paired t-test using the SPSS program.

Muscle strength of the lower extremities, postural balance and fall efficacy scores significantly improved in the experimental group compared to the control group.

These results suggest that this program can improve lower extremity muscle strength, postural balance and fall efficacy in elders. Therefore, this program is recommended for use in fall prevention programs for elders living in the community.