Smoke detectors are just about everywhere. They are in office buildings, retail stores, churches, schools, libraries, restaurants, theaters, hotels, and in our homes. They have become so common that it is easy to overlook them.

To keep your family safe, you can’t take smoke detectors for granted. Do you know if you have smoke detectors located in all the best places in your home? Do you know if they are working, or how old they are? Can you remember the last time the batteries were replaced?

The smoke alarms in our homes are among the most important life-saving devices in common use. Approximately 65% of people who die in home fires have no working smoke alarms. To cut this risk of death in half, all it takes are a few working smoke detectors. Our lives depend on them working correctly and that means learning a little bit about them. It’s not complicated or difficult, so take a few minutes and educate yourself about smoke alarms.

There are two common types of smoke detectors: 1) Photoelectric alarms, which are best with smoldering fires or fires that begin by smoldering,  2) Ionization smoke detectors, which are more sensitive to flaming fires. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) suggests that both types of detectors should be used in your home. You can buy some of each type or you can get combination alarms that include both types of sensors in the same device.

Smoke Alarm Safety Tips from the NFPA:

• Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, in the hallway near each sleeping area, and on each level of your home, including the basement.
• Interconnect all of the alarms so when one sounds, they all do.
• Test all smoke alarms once a month by pushing the test button.
• When installing smoke detectors remember that smoke rises, so place them up high on the wall or on the ceiling.
• Follow all manufacturer’s instructions for installation and keep the instructions handy for maintenance.
• Replace all smoke alarms every 10 years, or sooner if they are not working correctly.
• Smoke alarms are also available for people who are deaf or have profound hearing loss. These alarms are triggered by the sound of the smoke detector and use strobe lights or vibrations, such as pillow or bed shakers, to wake people.
• Make sure you purchase equipment with the label of a recognized testing laboratory.

Smoke alarms are an important part of home safety and any home fire escape plan. If you have a fire, the smoke spreads fast. Working smoke alarms could provide you the early warning you need to get yourself and your family outside quickly and safely.

Resources:
National Fire Protection Association:  http://www.nfpa.org/index.asp
http://www.homefiredrill.org

Through the Healthystuff.org project, Jeff Gearhart, Research Director at the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is spearheading the effort to make green cars healthy and safe for both the environment and the people in them. While stronger government regulations on fuel efficiency, and tougher air pollution standards are helping to keep our environment clean, what about the air quality inside your car?

Gearhart says:

“Research shows that vehicle interiors contain a unique cocktail of hundreds of toxic chemicals that off-gas in small, confined spaces. Since these chemicals are not regulated, consumers have no way of knowing the dangers they face. Our testing is intended to expose those dangers and encourage manufacturers to use safer alternatives.”

After testing over 200 of the most popular models of 2011-2012 vehicles, the Ecology Center published a report naming the best and the worst vehicles. During the past several years, Honda and Toyota have worked hard to improve their indoor air quality and this year they are on the top of the list for healthier cars.

The top cars this year are: #1 – Honda Civic, #2 – Toyota Prius, and #3 – Honda CR-Z. The most toxic and lowest ranking cars are: #1 – Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, #2 – Chrysler 200 SC, and #3 – Kia Soul.

This year the Civic made it to the #1 spot by having no bromine-based flame retardants in any of their interior components and also having no PVC in the interior fabrics. These chemicals are known to cause many health problems, including allergies, birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity, and cancer.

Other automakers are making air quality an important issue and continue to improve their vehicles. The 3 automakers making the most improvements in average fleet ratings are: Volkswagen with a 42% improvement, Mitsubishi up 38%, and Ford increasing by 30%. These are improvements in average vehicle scores between the combined 2009-2010 models years and the combined 2011-2012 model years.

If you are shopping for a new car, check the data for not only fuel efficiency and safety features, but also indoor air quality. Use the chart below as a quick reference guide.

Chart from: < http://www.healthystuff.org/departments/cars/press.releases.php>

Keeping yourself and your family safe while driving is extremely important. Remember to always use seat belts and put children in child safety seats. To avoid a car accident, drive appropriately for weather and road conditions. When shopping for a new car, get all the facts and make informed decisions on all of the vehicle health and safety features.

We all know that our bodies and minds change as we age. While experience and wisdom comes with getting older, we must also remember that everyone ages differently. There is no specific time when changes in our physical or mental abilities will happen, or what they will be.

Getting older does not automatically mean losing abilities or independence. It also does not mean we have to stop driving. It does mean we have to watch for warning signs and take appropriate steps, adjusting to whatever changes we are experiencing. It does mean that we need to ensure we are doing everything we can to continue to drive safely.

If you or someone in your family is experiencing changes due to aging, watch for the warning signs which may affect safe driving.

A few examples may be:

• Vision-related problems, which are one of the primary reasons that people stop driving.
• Muscle stiffness and weakness, which may make it difficult to turn the steering wheel, or turn your head when scanning at an intersection.
• Diminished brain power. The roads are very busy with many vehicles, signs, lights, pedestrians and unlimited distractions.

Follow up to ensure safe driving:

• Have your eyes examined and hearing checked on a regular basis. Make sure to wear any corrective lenses or prescribed hearing aids.
• Stay active and exercise regularly to keep strong and able to move freely.
• Eat well and get enough rest to keep your mind active and strong as well.

It’s also important to maintain your car and your good driving habits:

• Keep the windows, mirrors and headlights clean.
• Buy a car with automatic transmission, power steering and power brakes.
• Keep the car radio and your cell phone turned off. Distractions are dangerous.
• Scan intersections carefully. Take extra time and check more than once. Intersections are one of the most dangerous areas when driving.
• Take a driving refresher course. Studies show great improvements with relearning good driving habits and improving driving skills.
• Don’t drive at night. Everyone has diminished vision in the dark. Accident rates are higher at night.
• Know your limits. If you are less confident at high speeds, stay off the freeway. If you are unsure when driving in rain or snow, don’t do it. Be smart and be safe.

It’s important to continue to drive safely at all stages of life. Getting older doesn’t have to mean that you have to stop driving. It does mean you have to stay on top of the changes in your self and in your driving situations.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is defined by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) as a head injury that disrupts normal brain function. It can be caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head, or a penetrating head injury. The most common causes of TBI are from falls and auto accidents. Severe brain injuries can also be caused from medical conditions such as seizure or stroke. When the brain is deprived of oxygen, brain damage can occur along with loss of function, like inability to communicate or sometimes even inability to move.

Rehabilitation for severe brain damage can be long, and quite often not very successful. With some new technology currently used in computer games, this may be changing. The NeuroSky company produces sensors that detect brainwave activity by measuring electroencephalography, more commonly known as EEG. These sensors can show whether a person is alert, concentrating, meditating, anxious, or sleepy, and sends this information to a computer.

The information sent to the computer is used differently depending on the program. For example, the game MindFlex by Mattel uses the sensor to read brainwaves, allowing you do things like control a ball through an obstacle course — using only your mind!

Another existing use for this technology is in education, helping teachers and tutors to monitor a child’s attention level or nervousness. The applications are also available to assist with math, history, pattern recognition, memory and entertainment.

Future uses may have the potential to help people with a variety of medical conditions. In an recent interview, Stanley Yang, CEO of NeuroSky, said that: “[A] mother emailed the company a year ago about her 21-year-old son with cerebral palsy. She bought him a NeuroSky headset and was able to play games that helped him control his attention level. He could then answer yes or no to his mother’s questions by controlling his brainwaves — for the first time. Asked if he loved his mother, the son said yes, using NeuroSky. That’s a pretty compelling platform, and Yang says the company and its many partners are just getting started with applications for it.”

This technology looks promising for people with severe brain damage, Traumatic Brain Injury, Cerebral Palsy, Multiple Sclerosis, etc.  Using a game that is currently available, Star Wars Force Trainer, Michael Tripoli is an amazing example of the rehabilitation possibilities. When Michael was sixteen, he had a massive heart attack while playing football. His brain was deprived of oxygen and severely damaged. As a result, he has difficulty moving and communicating. Michael has a team dedicated to his rehabilitation who are using the game to engage his brain, and improve his mental abilities and communications skills. The game uses a brainwave-reading headset to let players levitate a ball by concentrating. To see Michael demonstrate how this can work for rehabilitation purposes, watch the video of him:http://vimeo.com/user7432364/michael

“On a weekly basis I speak to family members seeking solutions, who have loved ones with these conditions. While a long way from a total solution, we know there is potential for our technology to be used as a very basic communication device,” says NeuroSky’s Head of Communication Tansy Brook.

Resources:

http://venturebeat.com/2011/02/28/demo-neurosky-mind-games/

http://www.techlicious.com/blog/toy-could-help-brain-injured-people-communicate/

Car safety seats are essential for keeping children safe, particularly if they are in an auto accident. Most parents are diligent about using the child safety seats when traveling with their infants and toddlers. However, as the kids grow older, sometimes we are not as careful.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have laws that require children to use child safety seats when traveling in cars. Although some states permit older children to use adult safety belts, the national recommendation is use of a child safety seats until a child is 5 7 inches tall.  While children usually reach this height when they are approximately 11 years old, most state laws require booster seats only to age eight.

A study done by the University of Michigan’s CS Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, surveyed 681 parents regarding use of child safety restraints in vehicles. Seventy six percent of the parents reported using child safety seats.

The research also found more than 30% of parents don’t always require use of booster seats when their kids are with another driver. Interestingly, 45% of parents don’t require their own children to use a booster when they are driving other children who don’t have booster seats. Dr. Michelle Macy, pediatrician and lead study author, said this is “disturbing because close to 70% of parents say they carpool children other than their own, and when they do, they’re often failing to use booster seats,”

It’s not clear why parents are less diligent about safety seat use when their kids are carpooling. Some of the reasons given to researchers were simple things such as: limited space in the vehicle, difficulty of making arrangements, and even peer pressure that some older children feel. Although these obstacles may be very real, it’s important to remember that risk of injury is reduced 50% when using safety seats rather than seat belts.

When children use adult seat belts before the shoulder or lap belt fits properly, it can be very dangerous and may not be life-saving. “Parents need to understand the importance of using a booster seat for every child who does not fit properly in an adult seat belt on every trip,” said Dr. Macy.

For more information on safe car travel with children: http://michigan-auto-accident.com/michigan-car-accident-legal-help-center/child-safety-in-cars.html

Are you shopping for a new car, or have you purchased a new car in the past year? Do you love that new car smell? Are you disappointed when the smell starts to fade and your car doesn’t feel as new anymore? Get over it! That new car smell is toxic!

Years of research confirm, that new car smell is caused by Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs. These chemicals are found throughout the interior fabrics of your vehicle. New cars have an average of 250 pounds of plastic, with the highest percentage found in seat cushions, steering wheels, shifter knobs, door panels, dashboards, arm rests, etc. That new car smell is the release of toxic chemicals used in manufacturing these materials into the air of your new car. This is called “out gassing,” as VOCs contaminate the air you breath and coat the interior surfaces of your car with a toxic film. These compounds cling to dust, as well as the inside of the windshield and windows.

The chemicals have been linked to many health problems, including allergies, headaches, sore throat, nausea, birth defects, liver toxicity and cancer. The VOCs of most concern include: brominated flame retardants (BFR); chlorine, which indicates use of PVC (polyvinyl chloride); lead; and heavy metals.

HealthyStuff.org reports that: “Automobiles are particularly harsh environments for plastics, as extreme air temperatures of 192 F and dash temperatures up to 248 F can increase the concentration of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) and break other chemicals down into more toxic substances.”

How to protect yourself:

• Choose a car with lower levels of toxic compounds. For the current list go to http://www.healthystuff.org/departments/cars/about.findings.php
• Let time help you. Some of the toxins dissipate in six to eight months; others are released over the lifespan of the car. Buy a car that’s a few years old.
• Heat can increase the release of chemicals, so reduce the interior temperature by parking in the shade and using a solar shield in the front window.
• The toxins adhere to dust, so vacuum the interior of a car.
• Wash the film off the window and wipe the interior surfaces.
• Open windows and let the car air out before getting in and driving away.

When shopping for a new car, protect yourself. You can find vehicles with the highest safety ratings and the lowest in toxic fumes. Auto accidents aren’t the only dangers of driving.

It makes no difference whether you are a driver or passenger, any auto accident is a frightening experience. A rollover accident, however, is one of the most dangerous. Why?  Let’s start with the statistics:

• In 2002, there were 11 million crashes involving a passenger car, SUV, or pickup truck, and only 3% of those involved a rollover.
• More than 10,000 people died in those crashes, for a fatality rate of is 33%. Most of those victims (72%) were not wearing safety belts.
• Vehicles with a higher center of gravity, like SUV’s, vans, or pickup trucks, were more prone to rollovers in single vehicle crashes.
• The majority of all fatal rollovers were at speeds higher than 55 MPH, and 40% of those accidents involved speeding.
• 85% of all fatalities from rollover accidents were single vehicle crashes.

So rollovers have a higher fatality rate than other kinds of crashes, and usually involve only one vehicle. How do these terrible accidents happen?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) describes two causes for a rollover and divides them into 2 categories; tripped rollovers and un-tripped.  Here’s the difference between the two.

A Tripped Rollover is just what its title describes. The vehicle “trips” or “stumbles” over something and falls over itself. Almost all (95%) of single-vehicle rollovers are tripped. The vehicle may go off the road, slide sideways, and its tires hit something, causing it to stumble and roll. It can be something as simple as soft soil, a change in slope, or even a guard rail.

Sometimes, a vehicle traveling on a highway drifts into another lane, the driver quickly makes a steering correction and over corrects. Then the tires hit the soft soil on the shoulder and  the vehicle trips, causing it to rollover. It’s not just soft soil that can do this; it could be a guardrail, or curb, snow bank or just about any object.

Tripping also can happen on a steep slope. A vehicle may be going down a steep hill and start to pick up speed. The driver misjudges the steepness of the hill, and any turn or correction is too much at the traveling speed. The vehicle rolls over and tumbles down the hill.

An Untripped Rollover is much less common. These type of accidents occur less than 5% of the time, and happen most often in vehicles that are top-heavy. An untripped rollover usually happens when a driver is trying to avoid a crash, and over corrects. Often the vehicle is heavily loaded and the weight of the cargo causes the vehicle to be top heavy and rollover.

Rollovers are violent, tragic crashes. More often than other types of crashes, they are caused by driver behavior, road conditions, and environmental factors. Too often it’s a correction after a brief distraction. Now that you know how how fatal a single car rollover can be, use extra caution to avoid an accident.

For more information about protecting your legal rights in a rollover accident:
http://www.callsam.tv/car-accidents/how-can-you-protect-your-legal-rights-after-a-michigan-auto-accident.html

http://michigan-auto-accident.com/michigan-car-accident-legal-help-center/suv-rollover-accidents.html?task=view

Resources: http://www.safercar.gov

It’s a terrifying thought — a stranger breaking into your house, going through your things, and taking what they want.  Home burglary can leave you and your family feeling violated and not safe in your own home, the place we all go to rest, relax, unwind from the day, and feel safe and secure.

The FBI keeps statistics on property crimes:

• Burglaries of residential properties account for 72.6 percent of all burglary offenses.
• Victims of burglary offenses suffered an estimated $4.6 billion in lost property in 2009. The average loss in per burglary offense was $2,096.
• Of all burglaries, 61.0 percent involved forcible entry, 32.6 percent were unlawful entries (without force), and the remainder (6.5 percent) were forcible entry attempts.

Is your home really safe once you leave for work or school? There are ways to protect your home and family from criminal intrusion. To avoid becoming a burglary victim, it’s helpful to understand when and how most burglaries happen.

Most house and apartment burglaries happen during the day when most people are away at work or school, leaving their homes empty. Many break-ins are crimes of opportunity, so the summer months of July and August when doors and windows are open have the most burglaries. The majority of the burglars use some amount force to enter a home, but prefer easy access through an unlocked door or window. Ordinary household tools like screwdrivers, channel-lock pliers, small pry bars, and small hammers are most often used by burglars.

There are steps you can take to deter burglars and keep your home safe. Some are simple, common sense techniques that are good habits to teach your family.

• When leaving the house, always lock all of the doors and windows. An open window or door is just an open invitation for burglars. Weak locks may be easily forced open. Make sure your doors have deadbolt locks and your windows have window locks.
• Secure sliding glass doors by placing a metal rod or piece of wood in the track.
• Lock your garage door and the door to an attached garage. The automatic garage door is not secure, so don’t rely on it to keep out criminals.
• Install lights on the outside of your home to make sure all areas where someone can enter are well lit.
• Never hide a key under the door mat or near the door.
• When you leave for a vacation, make sure you don’t leave signs that no one is home. Stop the newspaper delivery and mail delivery, or have a neighbor pick them up daily. Make sure the grass is cut and the snow is shoveled in the winter. Have some lights and radios on timers to make it look like someone is home.
• Remember your outgoing voicemail message should never tell people you are away from home.

There is no way to ensure that you will never be the victim of a home robbery.  But following these guidelines and using your common sense can increases the chances your home will be a safe place for you and your family.

Resources:
http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2009/offenses/property_crime/burglary.html
http://www.burglaryprevention.org

Air bags are an important safety device found in vehicles since 1987. They are only meant to be used with safety belts, to protect a person from hitting the dashboard, side of the car, or other parts of the vehicle’s interior during a crash.

Between 1987 and 2008, frontal air bags saved 25,782 people.  Both front and side-impact air bags are triggered in a moderate to severe crash.

How Do Air Bags Work?

When your vehicle is involved in a crash, a signal is sent  to the air bag module. This triggers a chemical reaction, which produces a harmless gas to inflate the air bag instantly — in less than 1/20th of a second.

Then the air bag quickly deflates, letting the gas out through vents in the fabric so it doesn’t smother anyone, or restrict their movement after a crash.

This entire process of air bag inflation and deflation is very quick and usually happens in less than a second.
In the event of a rollover crash, which lasts longer than an impact event, the side and front air bags are designed to provide rollover protection and remain inflated longer. Side-impact air bags inflate even more rapidly, because there is less space between the person and the interior side of the vehicle.

Air bags are designed to save lives, and they do. However, they deploy so rapidly and with such force that serious, sometimes fatal, injuries happen if the person is too close to the air bag when it begins to deploy.

The force of an inflating air bag can be especially dangerous for children and small adults. Here are a few precautions you should always take to ensure the air bags are saving lives, and not injuring you or your family:

• The back seat is the safest place for children. All children under 13 years always should be in the back seat.
• Read your owner’s manual for specific information about the air bags in your vehicle.
• If your vehicle has an air bag ON-OFF switch, check it whenever you have a passenger. One survey shows that 48% of these switches were incorrectly left ON for child passengers under age 13.
• Air bags are designed to be used only once. If they are deployed they cannot be reused. Used air bags should be replaced immediately, and only by an authorized repair center – before the vehicle is driven again.
• Sit as far back from the steering wheel or dashboard as possible and use seat belts to help keep you a safe distance from a front air bag.

Most newer vehicles have air bag fabrics with a silicone coating, or something similar, to allow the fabric to deploy very quickly. Older models used nontoxic cornstarch or talcum powder to lubricate the fabric. Unfortunately, the powder sometimes looked like it was smoke even though it was actually harmless.

Some heavily coated side curtain air bags developed for rollover crash protection may still be lubricated with talcum powder. Don’t be alarmed if you are in an auto accident and you see the cloud of dust that looks like smoke.

Now you know how air bags work and how to use them safely. Hopefully, you will never need them.

What is “Tris”?  It sounds like a simple enough word. In fact, Tris is the name given to the chemical flame retardants that have been banned from children’s sleepware since the 1970’s. However, they are still used in baby products, household furniture and many other household items. The actual names are TDCP (Tris (1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate) and TCEP (Tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate).

Any flame retardant’s job is to slow fires — a good thing. Unfortunately, studies link the Tris chemicals TDCP and TCEP to cancer, reduced fertility, thyroid hormone disruption, and lower IQ. They also have been found to harm the liver, kidney, brain and testes.

Studies show that young children are often the group most highly exposed to these flame retardants. Researchers estimate that children may ingest up to ten times as much of these chemicals as adults because children often put their hands into their mouths, chew on things, and spend a lot of time close to the ground.

Where Tris is found:

• TDCP is the flame retardant most often used in automotive foam cushioning and the second most widely used flame retardant in furniture foam.
• TDCP & TCEP are also used in baby gear, including strollers, nursing pillows, couches, chairs, sofa beds, rocking chair foam, back-coating of carpets and upholstery. They are in cell phones, TVs, computers and other electronics, and automobile cushioning, PVC vinyl, rubber, plastics, paints and varnishes.

Where Tris travels:

• Both chemicals leach out of furniture and end up contaminating household dust and drinking water. One study in Boston, Massachusetts detected TDCP in more than 96 percent of the samples collected.
• In a 2002 study of water samples from 139 streams across the country, TCEP was one of the most frequently detected contaminants.

Avoiding Tris:
Fire safety starts with good fire prevention practices.

• Protect your home with sprinklers, smoke detectors and use common sense.
• Replace ripped or torn upholstery that has any exposed foam interior.
• Avoid furniture that says it meets the California flame retardant standard TB 117. This is an outdated standard that requires excessive amounts of flame retardant chemicals to be added to furniture foam.
• Buy furniture and textiles made from natural fibers like wool, jute or cotton — these materials are more naturally flame-retardant than synthetic fibers and require fewer chemical additives to meet flammability standards.
• To cut down on dust exposure from these chemicals, mop your floors, dust frequently with a damp or microfiber cloth, and use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter.
• Before buying electronics, check with the manufacturer to see if they have pledged to phase out the use of chlorinated flame retardants.

Legislating Tris:
In October 2011, these chemicals were officially listed as cancer-causing by the State of California on the “Prop 65 list.” This requires the publication of chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. The listing won’t ban Tris, but it will result in a labeling requirement for consumer products containing the chemicals.