Can societal collaboration prevent railway suicide?
Helena Rådbo, Karlstad UniversityMaria Hedqvist, Trafikverket
Content• The Swedish Railway system• Railway suicide• Restrail• Pilot project• Societal collaboration• Results this far and discussion
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Railway in Sweden
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• Trafikverket• 14700 km• 80% electrified• 560 stations• 6.2 billion passenger km• 110 fatalities 2010
Suicide in Sweden
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• 17 out of every 100.000 citizens• Decline with exception of age 15-24 years• Vision Zero
– Killed in the transport system– Suicides
Railway suicide in Sweden
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• 7% of all suicides occur in the transport system (all modes)
• 70% of the fatalities in the railway system• 5% of the total no. of suicides each year
Restrail• Co-funded EC FP7• Coordinated by UIC• 17 partners – 12 countries• Reduce the occurrence of suicide and
trespass and service disruptions• Analysis and identification of cost effective
prevention and mitigation measures
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Pilot project
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• Measures assessed as promising or recommended
• Project already in process• Important to evaluate and not just believe
that it works!• Purpose is to describe
the collaboration andto measure theeffects
Societal collaboration to prevent Railway suicides
• A model on how stakeholders should act• Involves all threats of suicides outside of a
persons home• Involved stakeholders
– The Police authority– The Emergency rescue services– SOS Emergency services– The Ambulance services– The psychiatric care units– The Transport Administration
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Participants and their responsiblity• The Police Authority
– always alerted to the threat of suicide• The Emergency Rescue service
– provided by municipalities• SOS Emergency
Service – is the organization
that first receives an alarm
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Participants responsiblity• The Traffic Control Center
– is alerted to introduce a temporary stop of the traffic on the identified site
• The ambulance service – is dispatched to help with transportation and
medical expertise• The Transport Administration
– Accident site manager is called to the site to make sure that the track is safe for S & R
• Psychiatric care– are informed of threats of suicide and are
prepared to receive the suicidal person
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Workflow• Anyone can initiate a traffic stop• If an exact location – traffic stop • If a larger search area – temporary speed
reduction until the person is found• S & R conducted by police, rescue services
and ambulance services• Ambulance transport the person to
psychiatric care
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Outcome• August 2012- May 2013
– 13-18 train stops executed each month– Average stoping time – 15 minutes– 66 people were helped to psyciatric care– 15 deceased– 28 traffic stops due to crime
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Important collaboration• It is the system that reacts
– not the person in need of help• 66 persons was helped to psyciatric care
– What if 10% acutally would have commited suicide? Then almost 7 persons were saved
• Continue evaluation with interviews
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Or contact either of us through email
Thank you for listening!
You can find more informationabout Restrail on the website
http://www.restrail.eu