National Safety Month 2021

Important Dates

National Safety Month

6/3 World Bicycle Day

6/5 World Environment Day

6/6 D-Day; WW2

6/6 -6/12 National Trailer Safety Week

6/17 Eat Your Vegetables Day

6/18 Take A Road Trip Day

6/19 Juneteenth

6/20 Father's Day

6/20-6/23- National Lightning Safety Awareness Week

6/21  National Ride to Work Day

Pride Month

  

The summer months tend to bring about different or heightened safety hazards. Kids are out of school, people are traveling, it's getting hot, and we are heading toward firework season. This month's safety blog focuses on how to be safe in a variety of areas. Within it, you will find some helpful tips on road safety, firework safety, stranger danger, and hot car safety.  As always last month's product safety RECALLS are at the bottom.

According to Wikipedia, "National Safety Month (NSM) is an annual month-long observance in the United States each June.

During National Safety Month, individuals and organizations participate by making efforts to reduce the leading causes of unintentional injury and death at work, on the road, and in homes and communities."

Road Safety Tips

• Teach your children how to cross a road safely:
  • Find a safe place to cross, then stop.
  • Look right, left, right and listen for vehicles.
  • If traffic is coming, wait for it to pass.
  • Walk straight across the road.
  • Keep looking and listening for traffic while you cross.
• Your child will learn about pedestrian safety by watching you, so use safe behavior around cars, roads and car parks.
• Take advantage of car seat checks and events to make sure your car seat is properly installed for long trips and in case of an accident.

• Some general driving tips to keep you and your family safe on the road from Safety.com:
  1. Buckle up.
  2. Put down the cell phone.
  3. Use the left lane for passing.
  4. Get up to speed on the acceleration ramp.
  5. Carefully get out of your vehicle after an accident.
  6. Don't drive too closely.
  7. Watch your speed.
  8. Let it go. Avoid road rage.
  9. Be considerate of tractor trailer drivers.
  10. Drive defensively. Watch out for other drivers.
  11. Take breaks over long stretches.
  12. Drive according to weather conditions.
  13. Do NOT drive under the influence.

Firework Safety Tips

Firework safety advice from KidsHealth.org

• The safest way to enjoy fireworks is at a professional display.
• It's best to stay away from areas where nonprofessionals are setting off fireworks.
• Fireworks can cause serious eye injuries, including blindness and starting fires, be cautious.

• Only adults should light fireworks.
• Never use fireworks indoors.
• Be prepared to put out a fire by having a hose or water nearby.
• Light fireworks one at a time.
• Stay away from a firework that has not gone off and never try to relight it.
• Sparklers may seem less dangerous than fireworks, but they get extremely hot — as hot as 1,800°F (982°C), use caution.

Stranger Danger Safety Tips

Have frequent discussions with your children about stranger danger. Teach them:

• Always tell you or their parents where they are going.
• Try not to walk anywhere alone.
• Don't take shortcuts through the woods, a back street or empty lot.
• Bad people do not always look mean or scary.
• Do not get close to strangers.
  • Make sure they have room to run.
• Don’t tell their name or address to a stranger.
• Never go with a stranger to help look for a lost pet or play a game.
• Never get into a car with anyone they don’t know.

• If a stranger bothers them, run away and ask an adult for help.
• Know safe places they can go – a police or fire station, the library, a store or a friend’s
• house.
• If a stranger follows them or grabs for them, yell loud! 
  • Shout, “I don’t know you!”  Fight back and make as much noise as you can.
• If anyone touches them in a bad way, say,
  • “NO!”  Get away and tell an adult you trust.
  • Keep telling until someone listens.
• Tell you or their parents about places they don’t feel safe.
• Talk to you or their parents and come up with a secret code word.
  • Never go with anyone unless they know the secret code word.

If your children are old enough to stay home alone, review these tips with them:

• Know how and when to call 911.
• Never open the door to a stranger.
• Never tell anyone on the phone they are home alone.
• Never tell any callers their name, number, or address.
• Hang up right away if they do not like what someone is saying on the phone.

Hot Car Safety Tips

In 2019, 52 children died in hot cars. Use these tips to help prevent a tragedy like this.

• A child's body heats up three to five times faster than an adult's does.
• A child can die when his temperature reaches 107 degrees F.
• Cars heat up quickly! In just 10 minutes, a car can heat up 20 degrees F.
• Cracking a window and/or air conditioning does little to keep it cool once the car is turned off.
• Heatstroke can happen when the outside temperature is as low as 57 degrees F.

• Some ways to prevent hot car deaths:
  1. Look in the backseat before you lock your car and leave.
  2. Keep something you need (like a cellphone, purse, ID badge, left shoe) in the backseat so you will have to look in the back seat.
  3. Travel with a stuffed animal or something obvious in your passenger seat to remind you that their is a child in the backseat.
  4. Always lock the when not using it, even in the garage, so that kids can't get in and overheat.
  5. Put keys and fobs up and away from children so they cannot get into cars without your supervision and overheat. 
  6. Make a plan with your childcare provider to check in with you if your child does show up.
  7. If you see something, do something:

     • If the child is not responsive or is in pain, immediately:

       • Call 911.

       • Get the child out of the car.

       • Spray the child with cool water (not in an ice bath).

     • If the child is responsive:

       • Stay with the child until help arrives.

       • Have someone else search for the driver or ask the facility to page them.

“The biggest mistake people make is thinking it can’t happen to them,” Fennell says.

RECALLS:

May 27, 2021 CPSC; Williams Advanced Materials & Chemicals Recalls Three Chemical Products Due to Failure to Meet Child-Resistant Packaging Requirement and Violation of FHSA Labeling Requirement (Recall Alert)

May 26, 2021 CPSC; JCPenney Recalls Girls Puffer Jackets Due to Entanglement Hazard

May 26, 2021 CPSC; Ergobaby Recalls METROUS Strollers Due to Choking Hazard

May 20, 2021 CPSC; Pro Supply Outlet Recalls Sodium and Potassium Hydroxide Products Due to Failure to Meet Child-Resistant Packaging Requirement and Violation of FHSA Labeling Requirement (Recall Alert)

May 19, 2021 CPSC; IKEA Recalls Bowls, Plates, and Mugs Due to Burn Hazard

May 13, 2021 CPSC; Leisure Time Products Recalls Brutus Swing Sets Due to Injury Hazard (Recall Alert)

May 13, 2021 CPSC; The Lye Guy Recalls Sodium and Potassium Hydroxide Products Due to Failure to Meet Child Resistant Packaging Requirement and Violation of FHSA Labeling (Recall Alert)

May 13, 2021 CPSC; Alliance Chemical Recalls Sodium Hydroxide Products Due to Failure to Meet Child Resistant Packaging Requirement and Violation of FHSA Labeling (Recall Alert)

May 12, 2021 CPSC; K & M International Recalls Slap Watches Due to Coin Cell Battery Ingestion and Choking Hazards

May 6, 2021 CPSC; Kidde Recalls TruSense Smoke and Combination Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Alarms Due to Risk of Failure to Alert Consumers to a Fire

May 5, 2021 CPSC; Peloton Recalls Tread+ Treadmills After One Child Died and More than 70 Incidents Reported

May 5, 2021 CPSC; Kolcraft Reannounces Recall of Inclined Sleeper Accessory and Urges Consumers to Act Now to Prevent Risk of Suffocation

May 5, 2021 CPSC; TJX Recalls Infant Sleep Bags Due to Suffocation Risk; Sold at T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and Sierra

* information from Consumer Product Safety Commission