UK Joins Citywide Partnership to Gain Safe Community Accreditation

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 28, 2015) — The University of Kentucky has joined Commerce Lexington, as well as local businesses, public health agencies and officials, and organizations, in an effort to designate the City of Lexington as an official Safe Community through the National Safety Council’s Safe Communities America program.

City leaders, including University of Kentucky assistant vice president Anthany Beatty, announced the partnership July 27 after a Chamber of Commerce meeting attended by Deborah Hersman, president and chief executive officer of the National Safety Council and former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board. Hersman, who investigated the crash of Comair Flight 5191 in 2006, traveled to the Bluegrass Region to discuss the Safe Communities initiative with local leaders.

The Safe Communities America model is a proven approach to reducing preventable injuries and deaths by enhancing established safety programs and working across entities to make communities safer. In Kentucky, injuries including car accidents, suicide and drug overdose are the leading causes of death in people younger than 45. In Kentucky, Madison County, Murray State University and Western Kentucky University have already been designated Safe Communities. Lexington elected officials, public health professionals, educators and business leaders are working together to bring Lexington into the Kentucky Safe Communities network.

In 2013, the University of Kentucky bestowed Hersman with an honorary doctorate of humanities for her leadership, compassion and transportation safety recommendations in the aftermath of one of Kentucky’s worst disasters. The Kentucky Injury and Prevention Research Center, a branch of the UK College of Public Health, coordinated Hersman’s current visit to Lexington.

Founded in 1913 and chartered by Congress, the National Safety Council (NCS) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to save lives by preventing injuries and deaths at work, in homes and communities, and on the road through leadership, research, education and advocacy. NSC advances this mission by partnering with businesses, government agencies, elected officials and the public in areas where we can make the most impact – distracted driving, teen driving, workplace safety, prescription drug overdoses and Safe Communities.

MEDIA CONTACT: Elizabeth Adams, elizabethadams@uky.edu