New & Noteworthy

May Focus: Preventing Injuries Among Babies and Toddlers

Reaching this High-Risk Group

Help parents and caregivers in your community by sharing valuable information and advice they can use to keep babies and toddlers safe in and around the home.

Tap into these free resources from HSC:

MySafeHome.org – Use our 3D virtual home in your presentations and encourage parents to visit it often. You can walk your audience room-by-room to help them identify dangers and learn steps for greater safety. Start in the nursery.

Bringing Baby Home – This section of HSC’s Web site is especially helpful for new parents. From this page you can jump to home safety tips that are specifically focused on early childhood safety.

Parenting Quiz – This is a good way to get parents thinking about baby safety issues.

Start Safe: A Fire and Burn Safety Education Program for Preschoolers and Their Families – HSC offers fire and life safety educators this comprehensive teaching program to use with schools and daycare centers. Download information, guidance and educational content in print and video.

Help Your Community Stay Safe this Spring
and Summer

Download free injury-prevention safety guides, including these topics:
Do it Yourself Safety
Ladder Safety
Home Security
Safe Steps

Events of Interest to Fire and Life Safety Educators

May 1-5, 2010

The International Association of Fire Chiefs' Fire-Rescue Med will be held
May 1-5.

May 2-8, 2010

National Arson Awareness Week 2010 is May 2-8 with a focus on community arson prevention.

June 6-9, 2010

18th Annual Summer Institute – Principles and Practice of Injury Prevention is sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Injury Research and Policy. It will take place in Baltimore, MD.

June 7-10, 2010

NFPA’s Conference and Expo will take place in Las Vegas.

May-June 2010

NASFM Youth Fire Prevention Train-the-Trainer Workshops take place in all 10 FEMA Regions from May through June 2010.

June 28 & 29, 2010

Vision 20/20 is hosting the Model Performance in Fire Prevention Symposium in Baltimore, MD which will showcase promising examples of model fire prevention programs in areas of enforcement, education, engineering, and prevention infra-structure.

June 29-July 3, 2010

Chicago is host city for the 42nd Annual Conference of the National Association of School Nurses.

July 22-24, 2010

The 2010 NASFM Annual Conference will be held in Chicago.

September 25, 2010

The Home Safety Council will partner with Lowe’s Companies this fall to bring Safety Saturday to Lowe’s stores across the country. Visit the Safety Saturday section of HSC’s Web site often to learn more about the national event and to get ideas to help your community make every Saturday a safe one.

Teach Your Community About Home Fire Sprinklers

Watch our New Fire Demonstration on MySafeHome.org

Changes are being made daily to HSC’s interactive Web site MySafeHome.org. Users can explore a virtual home indoors and out, room-by-room and then download free safety guides.

Don’t miss: Our new side-by-side fire sprinkler and flashover demonstration, created with innovative 3D graphics.

Use it as a teaching tool: Our vivid graphics and audio narrations help users see and understand home dangers and effective safety interventions, even if they are not strong readers of English. Falls, poisoning, fires/burns and all other leading causes of accidental home injury are fully addressed within MySafeHome.org. It’s easy to incorporate this online educational tool into your local safety presentations.

Get Recognized as a Built for Life Fire Department

The Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition’s (HFSC) Built for Life Fire Department program supports fire service efforts. HSC urges you to make home fire sprinkler education a focus of your outreach. HFSC can help.

For Consumers:

HSC’s Residential Fire Sprinkler Page
HFSC’s Sprinkler Smarts online program introduces children in grades K-5 and 6-8 to home fire sprinklers.

New Local Sprinkler Tools, Free from NFSA and IAFC

Download your free copy of the second edition of A Step-by-Step Approach to Communities courtesy of the National Fire Sprinkler Association and International Association of Fire Chiefs.

Contact NFSA's Resource Center at grepko@nfsa.org to request the updated Look Up for Safety CD/DVD Set, at no charge.

Common Voices

The Common Voices Coalition, sponsored by the National Fire Sprinkler Association, is a group of advocates who have been personally affected by fire tragedy.

Public Safety Policy

Residential Fire Sprinkler Installation

Three states have recently adopted the 2009 International Residential Code (IRC), which will require fire sprinklers to be installed in all new construction of one- and two-family homes and townhouses. The Home Safety Council congratulates these states on their progressive public safety efforts: California, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

Carbon Monoxide Protection Gains

A committee of the International Code Council (ICC) accepted several proposals from the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) and the Alliance for Healthy Homes to improve the 2012 version of the International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC), including requiring CO detectors in dwelling units with combustion sources and/or an attached garage. Dr. Angela Mickalide and Meri-K Appy testified on behalf of HSC in support of CO detectors at the ICC hearings. The final vote takes place between October 28 - November 1, 2010.

You Can Help HSC Help You and Your Community

Shop online and benefit HSC at no cost to you

Shop more than 700 stores online and your purchase will help support the Home Safety Council's public education activities and programs. It's free, and it's easy. Any purchase made at igive.com/mysafehome will generate a donation to the Home Safety Council.

Pennies add up fast with Internet searches

Use isearchigive.com/mysafehome when you search the Web and the Home Safety Council will receive 2 cents for each search.

We’re Blogging

Read The Bottom Line Blog to stay on top of safety news and trends.

Follow Home Safety Council

We’re on Twitter and Facebook. Check us out.

Speak Up!

Share your experiences with other fire and life safety professionals. Visit the Expert Network Community!

Burn Prevention

American Burn Association

With funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Fire Prevention & Safety Grant program, the American Burn Association is offering a wide range of fire and burn/scald prevention materials online. Visit the ABA Web site.

What’s New?

Free Expert Network Academy Online Training Announced

The Home Safety Council will offer fire department educators a free online training opportunity in 2010. Funded in part through a 2008 Fire Prevention and Safety grant, the Expert Network Academy computer-based program will serve novice and experienced educators. Read the announcement.

Order "Hard Copy" Teaching Tools from HSC at Low Cost

Members of the Expert Network may order printed/disk materials at the cost of shipping and handling only – $7.50 for 1-3 items. Quantity discounts are also available. Visit HSC's Products and Publications.

National Fire Academy Courses

Learn more about National Fire Academy courses.

Safety Advocacy

Surgeon General

Download the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote Healthy Homes, which contains helpful information your community can follow to stay safe at home from disease, disability and injury.

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control

The NCIPC’s Health Communication Science Office has “Adding Power to Our Voices – A Framing Guide for Communicating About Injury” to help injury professionals ensure their messages are consistent and coordinated.

CodeRedRover.org

HSC's CodeRedRover.org can help children in your community learn how to spot home injury dangers.

United States Congress

Resources to help you stay on top of legislative issues:
2009 Congressional calendars and other resources
HSC's Policy Advocates Page
Contact Your Representative
Contact Your Senator