While well-known for blood collection, the Red Cross assists fire and disaster victims with housing, food and counseling. It also does CPR and training (first aid, lifeguarding, babysitting) and those trainers can be helpful resources or interviewees. This Red Cross website contains lots of information on a variety of safety concerns. The national organization’s website has many helpful resources as does the international website.
This government website is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. It provides information and statistics about deaths and injuries. It also provides safety tips and information on injury prevention. What could be of particular use are the section on Fire and Fire Prevention an in depth injury fact book and exact tips on injury and violence prevention and control. The site also provides a A-Z injury topics link ; including information on various topics such as playground safety, poisoning, teen-drivers, school violence, among many other safety related issues.
This website is part of the Onondaga County website. The department’s goal is to “protect life and property during disasters and emergencies in Onondaga County”. The site explains how Onondaga County deals with emergencies. It also has a section for Emergency Preparedness which features information on how citizens can prepare for emergencies. There is also a fire bureau section which has information about fire safety in Onondaga County.
These links from the Onondaga County Department of Emergency Management Fire Bureau include all the fire departments in Onondaga County. The agency also publishes the monthly average fire response times for each department. It publishes an calendar for training events for EMS and fire personnel. If you’re doing a consumer story related to a flood or blizzard, check out the lists for household emergencies and disaster supplies. For a list of national fire-related organizations see this compilation by the Firemen’s Association of New York.
This federal government website provides information on residential fire safety and prevention, with a goal to eliminate residential fire deaths by educating people about fire safety. This site has an entire section dedicated to information for media, including statistics, fire and safety tips, smoke alarm resources, photos and b-roll footage and general information about house fires.
This website is part of the United States Department of Transportation. It provides information on a range of issues that deal with traffic safety, vehicles/equipment and laws, and regulations and guidance. Within these categories there are specific topics to search for, ranging from motorcycle safety to school buses. And in these topics is information about laws, legislation, and safety issues that deal with them specifically, including: studies and research, brochures, PSA’s, resource guides, publications and safety programs. The site also has a good aggregation of data.
This website has national fire information and news about wildfires in the country. It has daily statistics about fires happening as well as a comparative chart from past years. It also breaks up the wild fires by state and shows how many there are, their severity, the amount of space they cover and if they are under control.
This is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing injury and saving lives at home, at work, and in the community. They participate in a variety of activities and the website has lots of news and resources on safety which could be useful.
This state website is run by the Governer’s Traffic Safety Committee. It provides information about traffic safety, with topics ranging from alcohol, drugs and DWIs, bikes and wheel sport safety, to occupant protection, older drivers, pedestrian safety, speeding and speed limits. The site has an entire Ticket and Crash Date Reports section with information regarding tickers and crashes divided by county.
This Firefighters Directory is run by local firefighters. Best links are the the Fire Department directory with emails for firefighters by department, the Fire Station directory with address for each firehouse, and the list of each department’s website. The Agencies section provides information about all the departments in Onondaga County, (type and EMS certification) as well as all the EMS agencies.
This government website categorizes health and safety issues related to occupations. There is an alphabetical index where users can search for topics related to this field (for example, “drugs in the workplace”). The site has a Statistics and Data area where users can access information related to national workplace safety standards. The site has a newsroom section that would be of particular interests to reporters, which includes news releases, fact sheets, contact information, as well as information on how to submit a FOIA request.
This local center, affililated with Upstate Medical University, has educational materials that provide helpful background for stories. See also the poinson info sheets on common seasonal activities.
The site includes facts and information on poisoning and safety with poisonous substances, as well as links to educational resources and information on seasonal poisons. Reporters on health and/or safety beats would find the news releases section useful for story ideas. See also resources at New York City Poison Control.