National Safety Month Guide

National Safety Month is an annual awareness campaign designed to educate and inform the public about important safety issues. It was created in 1996 by the National Safety Council (NSC). Each week during the month of June, the NSC, along with state and local government agencies, corporate partners, community-based organizations, and volunteers across the country will work to promote certain key safety issues, which vary from year to year.

This year, the focus of the first week will be on teen driving, followed by falls prevention, overexertion, and distracted driving, in the second, third, and fourth weeks respectively. The NSC invites the public to help spread the word about these issues. It has a 2009 National Safety Month micro-site (click here) that has safety tip sheets and posters in both English and in Spanish that the public can download and print.

The National Safety Council

National Safety Month was created in 1996 by the NSC. The NSC is a trade organization that aims to reduce injuries in the workplace and local communities by publicizing safety issues, and conducting and publishing relevant research in the Journal of Safety Research and Safety + Health magazine. They also offer training on safety awareness and accident prevention in a variety of venues; and they lobby for legislation that will help protect citizens.

According to their website, "The NSC was founded in 1913, and formally recognized as a safety leader by an Act of Congress in 1953 that granted a Congressional Charter to the National Safety Council." A 501(c)(3) organization, the NSC has 55,000 corporate members and 39 state and regional chapters. The NSC collaborates with various other government agencies and corporate partners on pertinent issues: two recent partners have included the Environmental Protection Agency and Nationwide Insurance. NSC also houses a consulting arm that assesses workplace safety and productivity: NSC Consultants; and a Research & Statistical Services Group, which publishes the Journal of Safety Research.

Safety Ambassadors

The NSC encourages people to become Safety Ambassadors. These volunteers commit to educate their friends, family members, and community residents about accident prevention. During National Safety Month, Safety Ambassadors will be on the frontline of marketing NSC's safety issues to the public; however, Safety Ambassadors work year-round on these and other safety issues. You can become a Safety Ambassador whether or not your company is a member of the NSC. To find out more information about or to become a Safety Ambassador, click here.

For even more information about National Safety Month, please contact the NSC's office of Research, Communication & Advocacy by emailing meredith.morris@nsc.org or calling 630-775-2401.

Sources

About the National Safety Council, The National Safety Council

National Safety Month '09, The National Safety Council

Safety Ambassador Program, The National Safety Council

National Safety Council, Wikipedia