THE GREAT SAFETY ADVENTURE® TRAVELING HOME SAFETY EXHIBIT KICKS OFF NINTH YEAR ON THE ROAD

Home Safety Council® and Lowe’s Bring Award-Winning “Field Trip on Wheels” To Your Neighborhood

WASHINGTON, D.C. – “CODE RED, ROVER, GROWN UP COME OVER!” This phrase will soon be echoing through communities across the nation, as the national nonprofit Home Safety Council launches the 2007 tour of its award-winning traveling home safety exhibit – The Great Safety Adventure.

In its ninth consecutive year on the road, The Great Safety Adventure aims to educate children and their families about home safety and help prevent home-related injuries that result in nearly 20,000 deaths and 21 million medical visits each year. Created by the Home Safety Council and sponsored by Lowe’s, The Great Safety Adventure is roughly the size of a small house and unfolds from a semi-tractor trailer truck to form a 1,000 square foot animated home.

With the Home Safety Council’s mascot, Rover, the Home Safety Hound, and trained home safety tour guides called Safety Rangers, kids are taken through each room of the animated home, taught to identify common home dangers and instructed to call a grown up over with the phrase – “Code Red, Rover, Grown Up Come Over” – when they spot a danger during the tour. The phrase emphasizes the importance of children alerting a grown up in their home to fix the home dangers they find and NOT trying to fix the dangers themselves.

Often referred to as a “Field Trip on Wheels,” the Great Safety Adventure tours the nation visiting elementary schools and Lowe’s stores and bringing home safety education directly into communities.

“Prevention begins with education and our nation’s schools and local communities provide the perfect launching ground to deliver critical home safety messages,” said Meri-K Appy, president of the Home Safety Council. “When it’s presented in a fun and engaging way, children enjoy learning about safety and can be great messengers in bringing valuable safety lessons home to their parents. With the Great Safety Adventure, we encourage children to share the life-saving practices they learn with their parents to get the whole family committed to making the simple changes that can help keep them safer at home.”

Research Shows a Clear Need for Home Safety Education

According to Home Safety Council research, unintentional injury is the leading cause of death for children ages 1-15 in the United States, with more than 2,000 children suffering a fatal home injury each year and an additional 3.4 million children treated in hospital emergency departments annually for nonfatal home injuries . In response to these staggering statistics, the Great Safety Adventure concentrates on teaching safety practices to help prevent the five leading causes of home injury for children: (1) falls; (2) poisoning; (3) fires and burns; (4) choking and suffocation and (5) drowning.

“Our research findings clearly demonstrate the need for home safety education, not just for children, but for parents as well,” said Dr. Angela Mickalide, director of education and outreach for the Home Safety Council. “In fact, a recent Home Safety Council survey found that 60 percent of parents know there are actions they could take to help keep their family safer at home, but more than half said they either don’t know what actions to take or don’t have enough time to make home safety improvements . Once parents and children have the opportunity to tour the Great Safety Adventure, they’ll understand how to make home safety modifications, realizing that fixing home dangers can be quick, easy and is absolutely vital to the safety of their loved ones.”

Inside the Great Safety Adventure

After entering the oversized front door and gathering in the living room, the children or “safety rangers-in-training” are on the lookout to identify common home dangers such as toys and games left on the stairs; poisonous cleaning supplies in easy-to-reach cabinets; protruding pot handles on the stove; and unattended electrical appliances near water.

The adventure ends in Rover’s bedroom, where the Safety Ranger team works to prepare children for fire emergencies. The kids learn the importance of having working smoke alarms and planning and practicing a family fire escape plan. After the “safety rangers-in-training” master fire safety basics, they participate in a simulated fire emergency where artificial smoke fills the room and they must “Get Low and Go” – crawling beneath the smoke and escaping to a designated meeting place outside. When they are gathered safely outside, the children are named official “Safety Rangers” and encouraged to share Rover’s safety messages with friends and family.

The Home Safety Council also delivers The Great Safety Adventure’s safety advice virtually through www.homesafetycouncil.org and www.CodeRedRover.org. By visiting the Web sites, families can navigate through interactive home safety tools in English and Spanish including games, activities, home safety checklists and tips for parents and kids. Led by Rover, the Home Safety Hound, the award-winning sites provide home safety lessons that teachers can share in the classroom and children can access at home.

The Home Safety Council® (HSC) is the only national nonprofit organization solely dedicated to preventing home related injuries that result in nearly 20,000 deaths and 21 million medical visits on average each year. Through national programs, partnerships and the support of volunteers, HSC educates people of all ages to be safer in and around their homes. The Home Safety Council is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization located in Washington, DC.