Risk Watch is a school based program developed by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the Lowe’s Home Safety Council, which gives children and their families the skills and knowledge they need to create safer homes and communities and make positive choices about their personal safety and well being.

The statistics are staggering. Traffic injuries, drownings, fires and burns, firearm injuries, falls, poisonings … each year, unintentional injuries kill more than 7,000 kids and permanently disable more than 50,000. In Canada, injuries are the leading cause of death for children over one year of age. That’s more than drugs and disease combined. 13 million children – one in four – are injured seriously enough to require medical attention. Risk Watch helps kids beat the odds. With proper education, children can learn to be much safer and prevent injuries. And that’s what Risk Watch is designed to do, it gives kids the skills and knowledge they need to recognize and avoid risks.

Risk Watch is designed for children in preschool through grade eight, it targets the major unintentional injuries that most threaten children ages 14 and under. It is divided into five modules (pre-k/kindergarten, grades 1-2, grades 3-4, grades 5-6, and grades 7-8), each of which addresses the following topics: motor vehicle safety; fire and burn prevention; choking, suffocation, and strangulation prevention; poisoning prevention; falls prevention; firearms prevention; bike and pedestrian safety; and water safety.

Risk Watch activities combine teaching and imagination to help children learn to promote their own personal safety and well being, as well as that of their friends, family, and community. Risk Watch actively involves students in lively exercises such as creating a safety trade show and analyzing risky behaviors through story-telling, role-playing, songs, etc.

The Patricia Regional Safety Coalition launched Risk Watch pilot programs into local schools during the 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 school years with the support of the teachers, parents, councils, and school boards. Risk Watch has proven to be a huge success in these classrooms and we are really excited that Risk Watch will be included in the school curriculum throughout the entire school year in all Dryden and area schools!

www.nfpa.org
You can contact the Risk Watch Coalition by sending and email to dryfire@dryden.ca