June is National Safety Month, so each June, the National Safety Council encourages organizations and communities to participate in National Safety Month — an annual observance to educate and encourage safe behaviors around leading causes of preventable injuries and deaths.
Unintentional injuries and deaths in the United States remain at unacceptable levels, demonstrating the need for a national observance such as National Safety Month. Unintentional deaths reached an estimated 126,100 in 2010, compared with an estimate of 122,700 in the previous year.
The cost of unintentional injuries to Americans and their employers exceeds $730 billion nationally, or $6,200 per household, and causes great suffering for individuals and their families.
Founded in 1913 and chartered by Congress, the National Safety Council (nsc.org) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to save lives by preventing injuries and deaths at work, in homes and communities, and on the road through leadership, research, education and advocacy.
By 2014, the primary goal of the National Safety Council is to save an additional 10,000 lives and prevent 1 million injuries. To achieve this goal, they will continue to partner with employers, elected officials and the public to make an impact in our four key initiative areas: distracted driving, teen driving, workplace safety and safety in the home and community.
Alive at 25, a program recently adopted by the School District of Pickens County, and one that will be mandatory for all students who drive to school in Pickens County, is one of the many initiatives sponsored by the NSC. The program, which students enrolled in the SDPC who drive to school will be required to take, teaches students about the dangers of distracted driving and offers real-life solutions to protect young people against the dangers of unsafe driving practices.