Marketing & Communications
Division of University Relations and Development
News Release
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SDSU Home to "One-Stop Shop" for Safety Information "SafteyLit" Connects Tens of Thousands Worldwide Contact: Gina Speciale SAN DIEGO – (Wednesday, May 31, 2006)– It’s a priority for Eric Wigglesworth, Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Monash University Accident Research Centre. Week in and week out, from halfway across the globe in Melbourne, Australia, Wigglesworth scours the information on San Diego State University’s SafetyLit Web site. The National Safety Council proclaims June as “National Safety Month,” and as Americans take a closer look at the safety risks they face on a daily basis, SDSU’s SafetyLit Web site is just the place to go. SafetyLit is considered by many safety professionals to be the ultimate source for information about recently published research about preventing accidents, suicide, and violence. It is the brainchild of David Lawrence, director of SDSU’s Center for Injury Prevention & Policy within the Graduate School of Public Health. Lawrence and his small group of staff and volunteers search more than 2,600 scholarly journals from 35 professional disciplines, conference proceedings and government reports worldwide for articles relating to safety and injury prevention. Each week more than 100 reports are summarized and posted to the SafetyLit Web site. Their findings are collected in the weekly email update and distributed free of charge to more than 24,000 safety professionals and researchers in 186 countries around the world. Wigglesworth said without SafetyLit, it would take him hours to scan the voluminous field of information on his own. "The information I need might be in any of the several injury-related journals that are now published, plus all the multitudinous journals covering the various sciences between anthropology and zoology,” Wigglesworth said. “Without SafetyLit I would hardly have time for research.” In addition to the thousands of researchers, typical SafetyLit users include traffic engineers and planners, public health officials, occupational safety professionals, violence/suicide prevention professionals, professors and insurance workers. Several hundred subscribers are from branches of the armed forces and the federal Department of Homeland Security. For Wigglesworth, the information he’s discovered on SafetyLit has been an integral part of his work. A leading researcher in the field of occupational safety, Wigglesworth has been compiling a 20-year study detailing occupational injuries by hour of day and day of week. "In the old days, I would have gone to the university library and spent many hours or days searching for the information I needed,” said Wigglesworth. “Instead, I went home and went to SafetyLit, and in 20 minutes flat, I found an American scientist who shared my views.” When the site first took to the Web in 2000, it served only local faculty as a research tool. Today, Lawrence says he doesn’t mind the many man-hours it takes to keep pace with the demands of a site that serves so many. "If it helps others in their mission to make people safer, it’s worth it,” said Lawrence. “SafetyLit is an obsession of mine, professionally and personally. I’ve always been interested in safety and injury prevention issues.” That interest intensified in 1973, when Lawrence was in a very serious auto accident in North Carolina. "I was in a Volkswagen and a seatbelt saved my life,” he said. “Since then, I have been fascinated by efforts to improve safety and reduce injuries.” But Lawrence says the Web site reaches farther than safety scholars and professionals. He says the public can use a site like this to make educated decisions. "A lot of times, people follow their instincts or a company's marketing image and don't collect evidence before making safety-related decisions, such as the safer car to buy or what type of lawn mower or baby crib or child restraint seat to use,” said Lawrence. “But there’s a lot of information out there and people don’t need to take risks without being informed.” To learn more about SafetyLit and to sign up for the weekly updates visit www.safetylit.org. The Center for Injury Prevention Policy and Practice was founded in 1986 and is administered through the Graduate School of Public Health. Its mission is to reduce death and disability from injuries by fostering effective injury prevention programs, policies and systems. Major funding for the Center is through long-term contracts with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration, the California Department of Health and Human Services, and the California Office of Traffic Safety. The Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) at SDSU was founded in 1980 as part of the university's new focus on health and human services. One of four nationally accredited schools of public health in California, and located in one of the most vibrant and culturally diverse areas in the country, the GSPH provides many opportunities for education, research, and community involvement to advance the state of knowledge in different health disciplines and to improve the population's health. The GSPH provides both undergraduate and graduate education in population-based health disciplines to prepare students for professional health and public health careers, and to enhance the knowledge and abilities of current health professionals. Opportunities for education extend beyond the formal classroom through interactions with faculty on research projects and opportunities to become actively engaged in local and regional community service activities. SDSU is the oldest and largest institution of higher education in the San Diego region. Founded in 1897, SDSU offers bachelor’s degrees in 81 areas, master’s degrees in 72 and doctorates in 16. SDSU’s nearly 33,000 students participate in academic curricula distinguished by direct faculty contact and an increasingly international emphasis that prepares them for a global future. For more information, visit www.sdsu.edu. ### |
