Safer Clubbing Switzerland - More than a quality label!

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Safer Clubbing Switzerland- More than a quality
label!

• Security, Democracy and Cities, Zaragoza
• Workshop Drugs
• 2. November 2006
• Social Services of the City of Zurich
• Youth counselling Streetwork
• Alexander Bücheli

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Information about the Nightlife-prevention

• Doing Drug- and HIV-prevention during the last 10
  years
• On-site information offer with drug checking
  possibility or alcohol information (since 2001)
• Streetwork roundtable with the participation of
  the Police, Club-Owner, Medical-Services,
  AIDS-Help-Zurich
• New, Drug-Information-Centre (DIZ), with
  drug-checking facilities and the possibility to
  fix personal therapeutic sessions, a joint
  venture with the therapeutic medical centre GAIN
  www.gain-zh.ch
• www.saferparty.ch with personal E-Mail support

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Beginning of Safer Clubbing

• Summer 2003
• Streetwork Zurich has presented the idea for an
  award for the safest club in the city during a
  round table meetings
• A work group with Streetwork Zurich and 5 Club
  Owners is being formed (autumn 2003)
• The Club-Owners don't want more competition
  between the clubs
• The Club-Owners decided to develop a quality
  label in a collective process together

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Reasons for Safer Clubbing

• The nightlife of Zurich is constantly expanding,
  gaining more importance for the city of Zurich
• In the last ten years more then 400 of clubs
  (from 25 to 100)
• More problem-related on nightlife activity
• To reach the target group (party drug user) was
  difficult
• Different qualities of club infrastructure and at
  special (i.e. larger) events
• No seats, no chill out sections, no water
• Aggressive security staff

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The Collective process of Safer Clubbing
The guidelines of Safer Clubbing were developed
in a collective process, with this different
partners, during 1/2 years
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Safer Clubbing structure
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Safer Clubbing basics

• Safer Clubbing Clubbing with know-how!
• Establishing a quality label for clubs and
  events, this label guarantees a high-quality
  standard of nightlife events
• Safer Clubbing is a protected trademark of the
  Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual
  Property in Berne
• Safer Clubbing is an association, the members are
  Club-Owners exclusively
• No subsidy by the city of Zurich

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Safer Clubbing Guidelines

• Infrastructure
• First aid room and chill out section
• Collaboration
• Other prevention institutions
• Police and Medical Services
• Harm Reduction
• Free water to drink
• Prevention and drug checking must be possible
• Training Staff
• First Aid, substance information and
  non-aggressive communication

Guidelines must be open and flexible, because
from time to time new problems occur.
Control audit to check the implementation of the
standard guidelines in the member clubs. Two
times per year, by a autonomous control crew.
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Quality-Commission of Safer Clubbing

• Members are
• Prevention institutions (Streetwork, AIDS-Help)
• Medical-Service of the city of Zurich
• One member of the association (Club-Owner)
• Topics of the Quality-Commission
• Observing the control audit and deciding about
  the allocation of the label
• Proposition for new guidelines and prevention
  measures

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Other topics of Safer Clubbing

• Club-Database
• To record Club-Hooligans or Drug-Dealers
• With the possibility to ban them from all Safer
  Clubbing Member-Clubs
• The information on this Club-Database are only
  for the Safer Clubbing association
• Engaging a manager for the association, to
  guaranty more professionalism
• Special Safer Clubbing events in all member clubs

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Environment management of Safer Clubbing

• Coexistence with neighbourhoods, open a E-mail
  address for complaining neighbours
  (lärm_at_saferclubbing.ch)
• More safety and cleanliness around the club
  scene, working together with the Police and
  SIP-Zürich (Security-Intervention-Prevention)
• Two campaigns to sensitise the clubbers for the
  neighbour problems
• Evening of open-club-door, to show club-life
  and -work to interested people

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Safer Clubbing section Zurich

• 12 Member-Clubs
• With a capacity between 400 3000 peoples
• With different kind of music
• Discussions with 3 Clubs to rich the association
  
• About 350 club employees are being formed
• 45 special prevention events since the beginning
  (drug testing, HIV prevention)
• Five control audits since the beginning, without
  a exclusion of a Member-Club

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The Expansion of the SC-Label

• This new form of structural prevention has gained
  a lot of recognition among experts
• The expansion is supported by the Swiss Federal
  Office of Public Health (BAG)
• The Safer Clubbing Association aims to expand its
  activities into the six largest Swiss cities
• At the moment, three Safer Clubbing sections are
  established
• Section on the French part of Switzerland want to
  be invent this Winter

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Safer Clubbing outcomes

• Club-Owners
• Strong lobby system
• Direct contact with the prevention, Police and
  the Government
• Have training session for the staff
• Clubbers
• They can be sure that the staff is trained
• A high quality of clubs and events
• Access to information-material at any time

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Safer Clubbing Outcomes 2

• Police
• One respondent system
• Less problems around the club area
• Government
• One partner to talk to about the nightlife
  problems
• A lively and high-quality club-scene boosts the
  attraction of a city
• Prevention-Institution
• Direct access to clubbers
• Possibility to gain scene-relevant information
• Close contact to the scene to do adequate
  prevention (harm reduction)

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Problems related to Safer Clubbing

• The discipline of the Club-Owners
• Safer Clubbing is not a system to make more
  profit
• A Member-Club must be closed because there was to
  much drug consumption (April 2005)
• Mass-Medias see Safer Clubbing as a guaranty for
  drug free clubs
• The difference between underground scene and
  commercial events
• The cost of Safer Clubbing for the clubs (300
  Euro/year)

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The future of Safer Clubbing

• Club Syndicate
• To be a strong lobby for club-culture, all over
  Switzerland
• Prevention
• Alcohol (special youth and alcohol)
• Tobacco
• More cooperation with
• The Club Commission, Berlin/Hamburg
• Clubs against Drugs, Stuttgart
• Basic Network

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For more information contact us

• www.saferclubbing.ch
• info_at_saferclubbing.ch
• Safer Clubbing
• Z. Hd. Alexander Bücheli
• Postfach 2070
• 8031 Zürich
• Switzerland
• Thanks for your attention to this presentation
  and have a nice day.