Home hazards targeted

Within the next couple of weeks more than 5,000 Utah children will have tidied up a living room to make it safer, identified bathroom safety hazards and even escaped from a smoke-filled bedroom — all from the back of a semitruck.

In mid-May, the Great Safety Adventure's nearly 1,000-foot house on wheels rolled into Salt Lake, visiting elementary schools and Lowe's Home Improvement stores, inviting students to tour the "home" and learn how to avoid home accidents.

"We want kids to be able to recognize home dangers and to take action against safety hazards," said Tim Rogers, safety ranger for the Home Safety Council, who tours with the truck. "We want them to be able to go home and say, 'Mom, you need to put locks on those doors,' or 'you need to move that."'

Students walk into rooms and spot hazards such as toys on a staircase, poisons in an open cupboard and electrical appliances near water. They also learned the safe way to escape from a burning house.

Rogers said safety is one of the most important things a child can learn and awareness and education could help prevent millions of injuries at home.

In its ninth consecutive year on the road, the Great Safety Adventure aims to educate children and their families about home safety and prevent home-related injuries that result in nearly 20,000 deaths and 21 million medical visits each year.

Created by the Home Safety Council and sponsored by Lowe's, the Great Safety Adventure is roughly the size of a small house and unfolds from a semitruck into the 1,000-square-foot animated home.

With the Home Safety Council's mascot, Rover, the Home Safety Hound, and trained home safety tour guides called safety rangers, children are taken through each room of the home.

The instruction children receive also emphasizes the importance of children alerting a grown-up in their home to fix the dangers they find and not trying to fix the dangers themselves.

Families can visit the Great Safety Adventure home on Saturday at the West Jordan Lowe's, 7456 S. Plaza Center Drive, on June 9 at the Sandy Lowe's store, 9291 S. Quarry Bend Drive, and on June 16 at the Murray Lowe's, 469 W. 4500 South. At each site, hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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E-mail: terickson@desnews.com