Assessment of Safety Status of Residential Housing in Rural Families of Ramian Township(Golestan Province, Iran) in 2011

Background and Maintenance of safety in housing is among concerns of the urban and rural healthy life in our country. Disregarding of safety issues and probability of occurrence of accident impose many costs on the families and Ministry of Health and Medical Education. This study aimed to determine safety status of residential housing in rural families of Ramian Township in 2011. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 12965 residential housings (all households) in Ramian township (Golestan Province، Iran) in 2011 according to credible safety checklist of Ministry of Health (five parts: kitchen، bedroom، bathroom، balcony and roof، and the staircase). After completing the checklist، the overall home safety score and scores of its five parts were calculated and were graded. Then data were analyzed by SPSS version 16، Excel and descriptive statistics. Results showed that five sections of home had acceptable safety، including kitchen (96. 64%)، bedroom (96. 49%)، staircase (95. 53%)، yard، balcony، parking lot and roof (94. 27%)، and the bathroom (93. 42%). Overall، 0. 72% homes (93 households)، 2. 43% homes (315 households) and of 96. 85% homes (12،548 households) had poor، average and acceptable safety score، respectively. Also، Ghareghach and Saadabad health care centers had subsequently minimum and maximum overall home safety score. The results indicated that houses of eight rural health care centers had significantly different safety overall and five parts scores. The results also showed that the overall home safety in rural families of Ramian Township، in contrast to previous studies، even in the central area and the outskirts of the city، has been higher or close to equal. For maintaining and improving the safety of residential homes، other mechanisms are presented، such as increasing of public awareness، strengthening inter-sectorial cooperation and participation، and encouraging of households evaluated as safe.