As we gear up to the summer season and kids let loose for summer vacations, it’s a good time for your wellness program to focus on seasonal safety related issues: water and pool safety, sun and extreme heat, lightning and storm related-safety, biking safety, and fireworks safety. We’ve compiled a variety of resources that you can use in your summer wellness communication programs.
Water safetyHealth Swimming and Recreational Water from the Centers for Disease Control offers extensive resources on everything water-related, from swimming, boating and pool safety to water-related illnesses and skin cancer prevention. Swimming Safety from Kids Health also has good information. For additional resources, see the Pool Safety Council, which is dedicated to the prevention of child drowning, the National Drowning Prevention Alliance, and the Boating Safety Resource Center from the U.S. Coast Guard. This includes boating safety information as well as links to federal and state laws about boating.
Fireworks Safety – as we gear up to July 4, fireworks are a safety issue for kids – and some grownups too. That’s why Prevent Blindness designates June and July as Fireworks Prevention Months. See U.S. CSPC Fireworks Information Center and the National Council on Fireworks safety.
Biking SafetyBike Safety for Kids from Kids Health is a good overall resource, as are Kids and Bicycle Safety from the National Highway Traffic Safety and Bicycle Safety: How to Not Get Hit by Cars. Helmets are an important way to prevent injuries. There are no federal laws mandating bicycle helmets, but many states and localities have laws, particularly for kids under age 18. See helmet laws for bicycle riders from the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute.
Lightning Safety – The National Weather Service reminds us that June 20-26, 2010 is Lightning Safety Week and provides a variety of resources on lightning and storm safety. An average of 58 people are killed by lightning each year, and hundreds more sustain non-fatal injuries from lightning strikes. In addition to safety tips, the site includes some fascinating survivor stories. Also see NASA’s report on Human Voltage: When people and lightning converge. Another good resource is the National Lightning Safety Institute’s personal lightning safety resources and fact sheet on lightning safety for outdoor workers.
Heat and sun safety – According to the National Weather Service, heat-related deaths are one of the leading causes of weather-related deaths across the country each year, and thousands of people from kids to the elderly are made ill through heat stress. Excessive exposure to the sun can also cause skin cancer. Sun Safety and heat illness prevention sheet from from Kids Health offer good guidance for parents. The Sunwise Program from the Environmental Protection Agency and Sun Safety from the American Cancer Society both offer good information on skin protection. The CDC Guide to Extreme Heat offers information for all ages, and for outdoor workers, OSHA offers a tip sheet on heat stress prevention.

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