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Warning against wearing bike helmets on playgrounds
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TRAUMA NEWS :/,:,,,,,
FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
AGENCY BUILDING A TORNADO "SAFE ROOM"
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is urging residents of tornado-prone areas to build a "safe room" in their homes. Safe rooms can provide protection against deadly tornadoes, hurricanes, and other extreme wind hazards. It was noted that a safe room built in a home in Del City, Okla, saved the lives of the residents and their pets while their neighborhood was completely destroyed in the tornadoes that hit the area in May 1999. The safe room was a cast-in-place concrete room that served as a roomy closet. The room was built to design standards developed and published in a 25-page, illustrated FEMA publication, Taking Shelter from the Storm: Building a Safe Room Inside Your Home. Safe rooms built to these specifications are designed to provide protection from the forces of extreme winds as high as 250 miles (400 kin) per hour and the impact of flying debris. They cost between $2000 and $4000 to build. To obtain a copy of Taking Shelter from the Storm: Building a Safe Room Inside Your Home, Publication 320 (booklet and construction plans), contact FEMA at (888) 565-3896. The publication, but not the constmction plans, is available for downloading from the FEMA Web site www.fema.gov
US CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
WARNING AGAINST WEARING BIKE HELMETS ON PLAYGROUNDS The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warns of the dangers of children playing on playground equipment while wearing bicycle helmets. The CPSC is aware of 2 children who were strangled when their helmets became wedged. They
Int J Trauma Nurs 1999;5:118-20. Copyright © 1999 by the Emergency Nurses Association. 1075-4210/99/$8.00 + 0
65•8•99898
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died as a result of hanging from the helmet strap. Although helmets have proved to be effective in reducing the risk of head injury while riding bikes, these reports show that there is a hidden hazard of strangulation if the child wears a helmet while playing on playground equipment. For further information from the CPSC about bike helmet safety, readers may call the CPSC's hotline at (800) 638-2772 or via the Web site at www.epse.gov CHILD CARE SAFETY CHECKLIST AND HOME GUIDE The CPSC has a national campaign to protect children in child care centers and at home. The CPSC is offering free public information resources to aid in preventing some of the more common types of childhood injury. The CPSC estimates that 2.5 million young children are injured or killed each year in incidents at home. In 1998, the CPSC found in a study of 220 child care settings across the United States that approximately two thirds had at least one safety hazard for preventable injuries. The CPSC has developed the Child Care Safety Checklist for parents to use to evaluate child care settings, and for child care providers to become informed about hidden hazards. The most common hazards found in the CPSC study included allowing children to play with drawstrings at the neck, poor playground surfacing, loops on blind cords, soft bedding, using recalled products, or failing to use child safety gates. The checklist can be obtained by sending a postcard to Child Care Safety Checklist, CPSC, Washington, DC 20207, or via the CPSC's Web site at www.epse.gov Child Proofing Your Home: 12 Safety Devices to Protect Your Children is an easy-to-read brochure that outlines how many home hazards can be eliminated with low-cost safety devices, including safety latches, corner bumpers, antiscald devices, and safety tassels for window blind cords. This brochure can be obtained by calling the Consumer Information Center at (888) 8-PUEBLO (Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 8 I'M EST) and requesting Item 618E Readers can also write to the Consumer Information Center, Dept 618F, Pueblo, CO 81009, USA.
118 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAUMA NURSING/Trauma News Today
VOLUME 5, NUMBER 3
¸
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~ ? ~ i U ~ ¸ ~!<~!!ii~!?iiiiiiiiiiiii!!i!ii!ii!i~ii!~:i;!%ii~iiii!~ii!ii?~:!~:~!!i!~ : ~ : ~
TRAUMA NEWS :/,:,,,,,
FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
AGENCY BUILDING A TORNADO "SAFE ROOM"
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is urging residents of tornado-prone areas to build a "safe room" in their homes. Safe rooms can provide protection against deadly tornadoes, hurricanes, and other extreme wind hazards. It was noted that a safe room built in a home in Del City, Okla, saved the lives of the residents and their pets while their neighborhood was completely destroyed in the tornadoes that hit the area in May 1999. The safe room was a cast-in-place concrete room that served as a roomy closet. The room was built to design standards developed and published in a 25-page, illustrated FEMA publication, Taking Shelter from the Storm: Building a Safe Room Inside Your Home. Safe rooms built to these specifications are designed to provide protection from the forces of extreme winds as high as 250 miles (400 kin) per hour and the impact of flying debris. They cost between $2000 and $4000 to build. To obtain a copy of Taking Shelter from the Storm: Building a Safe Room Inside Your Home, Publication 320 (booklet and construction plans), contact FEMA at (888) 565-3896. The publication, but not the constmction plans, is available for downloading from the FEMA Web site www.fema.gov
US CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
WARNING AGAINST WEARING BIKE HELMETS ON PLAYGROUNDS The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warns of the dangers of children playing on playground equipment while wearing bicycle helmets. The CPSC is aware of 2 children who were strangled when their helmets became wedged. They
Int J Trauma Nurs 1999;5:118-20. Copyright © 1999 by the Emergency Nurses Association. 1075-4210/99/$8.00 + 0
65•8•99898
................... .
.
.
.
.
?:
died as a result of hanging from the helmet strap. Although helmets have proved to be effective in reducing the risk of head injury while riding bikes, these reports show that there is a hidden hazard of strangulation if the child wears a helmet while playing on playground equipment. For further information from the CPSC about bike helmet safety, readers may call the CPSC's hotline at (800) 638-2772 or via the Web site at www.epse.gov CHILD CARE SAFETY CHECKLIST AND HOME GUIDE The CPSC has a national campaign to protect children in child care centers and at home. The CPSC is offering free public information resources to aid in preventing some of the more common types of childhood injury. The CPSC estimates that 2.5 million young children are injured or killed each year in incidents at home. In 1998, the CPSC found in a study of 220 child care settings across the United States that approximately two thirds had at least one safety hazard for preventable injuries. The CPSC has developed the Child Care Safety Checklist for parents to use to evaluate child care settings, and for child care providers to become informed about hidden hazards. The most common hazards found in the CPSC study included allowing children to play with drawstrings at the neck, poor playground surfacing, loops on blind cords, soft bedding, using recalled products, or failing to use child safety gates. The checklist can be obtained by sending a postcard to Child Care Safety Checklist, CPSC, Washington, DC 20207, or via the CPSC's Web site at www.epse.gov Child Proofing Your Home: 12 Safety Devices to Protect Your Children is an easy-to-read brochure that outlines how many home hazards can be eliminated with low-cost safety devices, including safety latches, corner bumpers, antiscald devices, and safety tassels for window blind cords. This brochure can be obtained by calling the Consumer Information Center at (888) 8-PUEBLO (Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 8 I'M EST) and requesting Item 618E Readers can also write to the Consumer Information Center, Dept 618F, Pueblo, CO 81009, USA.
118 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAUMA NURSING/Trauma News Today
VOLUME 5, NUMBER 3