Background The Pan Pacific Safe Communities Network represents almost 100 accredited Safe Communities – 1.5 million people in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. As an advocate for injury/violence prevention the PPSCN promotes evidence based programming, leadership, sustainability, evaluation training, mentors communities, conducts accreditations and provides networking opportunities

Description Injuries and violence are leading public health problems. Safe Communities promotes a structured and collaborative approach to their prevention. PPSCN was established due to changes in the centralised infrastructure of International Safe Communities. In 2014, PPSCN began pursuing official relations with the WHO to establish opportunities to work on specific projects to advance our mutual goals of developing sustainable, equitable and transferable violence and injury prevention models at the local level.

Results PPSCN has operated since 2010 (registered NGO 2013) is strongly committed to being a primary resource for Safe Communities by providing timely and effective mentoring, advice, advocacy, and accreditations. Each country in PPSCN is structured differently but dedicates resources to support the movement. PPSCN members are committed to best practice in violence and injury prevention through greater collaboration between non-government organisations, the business sector, and government agencies. Through the development of these collaborative relationships Safe Communities have been successful in growing and strengthen community safety activities to create safer environments and increase the adoption of safer behaviours. www.ppscn.org

Conclusions Improving community safety is complex and the collaboration necessary to address injury prevention is challenging but not impossible. The PPSCN is an essential component to developing the capacity of communities to focus on the adoption of an integrated approach to planning and delivery based on the available evidence. From the collective experience, the benefits of having all sectors working together in a coordinated and collaborative way, forming partnerships to promote safety, manage risk and develop safer environments leads to an increase in the overall safety of members.