NFPA's Risk Watch Program Helps Educators and Firefighters Teach Children About Safety

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Injury is the leading health risk for children under 14.  In the United States over 6,000,000 children sustain accidental injuries each year, and over 5,000 of these are fatal.  In response to this the NFPA developed Risk Watch, the nation's first comprehensive injury program that school districts and first responders can use to teach young children about safety.

NFPA's Risk Watch Curriculum

The Risk Watch Curriculum is divided into four age-appropriate levels, including Pre-Kindergarten/Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, and 3rd Grade.  The course is designed to be taught one hour per week for eight weeks.  The topics covered include:  Motor Vehicle Safety, Fire and Burn Prevention, Choking, Suffocation & Strangulation Prevention, Poison Prevention, Falls Prevention, Firearms Injury Prevention, Bike and Pedestrian Safety, and Water Safety.

The lessons are interactive, making the learning both enjoyable and effective.  Doris Dyt, a 1st Grade teacher at Michael G. Wickman Elementary School in Chino, California, explains, "There's little posters where they can look for what's wrong in the poster that they need to correct.  There are little books where they can answer questions and play games with."

Fire Department Participation in Risk Watch

Fire departments across the United States are partnering with their local school districts to enhance the Risk Watch Program by performing firefighter safety demonstrations.  The Chino Valley Independent Fire District is one Southern California fire department that has been involved with their local school district's Risk Watch Program for the last 10 years, bringing their "Sparky's Safety House" fire safety trailer to the Risk Watch Graduations.  There firefighters and the children practice the skills they learned in the classroom, using the trailer's realistic kitchen, living room and bedroom.  The safety house helps children to identify hazards in their homes and practice their escape plans.

The Chino Valley Fire Foundation also provides the fire department with several bike helmets, which they use during their demonstration on bike safety. Children chosen to participate in this demonstration are able to take the helmets home with them.  Firefighters also ask the students if they have working smoke detectors in their homes, and they give complimentary smoke detectors to those who do not.

Massiel Ladron De Guevara, the Chino Valley Independent Fire District's Public Information Officer, says that the program has been very successful, as the children are able to answer all of the questions posed to them by firefighters during the graduation.  The most important part of the program is that the children not only can take these skills home to use themselves, but they can also teach them to their family and friends.  She explains, "Not only are the children being taught this in the classroom and are learning, but also they go home and they teach their siblings.  They talk to their parents about it, and they talk to the neighborhood children.  That way we are reaching out to more people through the children."

Chino Fire Captain Bill Heitmann is proud of his department's participation in the program.  He says the training has been effective because the children "get used to it and it becomes automatic.  That's what we want.  We want them to perform automatically so that they don't have to think about it."  Heitmann says that his fire department has received several emergency calls because children that have gone through the program have alerted their parents to dangers.

How To Participate in Risk Watch

For more information on how your school district and fire department can participate in Risk Watch, visit www.riskwatch.org.