Techs & others

Shoot me some ideas please.

I stopped by the fire station on the corner by home today on my way home from the social security office. I had a great talk with the Fire Chief & he wants me to help be a part of their safety outreach for the community.

I stopped by to talk about an inspection of our smoke alarms & to get help devising an escape plan for our house & the convo evolved into car seat safety of course. I asked if they had any CPSTs at their station & he sadly replied no but that he could send me to another nearby city for help. Boy was he excited when I told him I was a CPST & I was asking so I could volunteer w/ them when they have events. He said that car seat safety is severely lacking in this area due to all the budget cuts from the past few years so they haven't been able to send any of their guys & gals to get certified. We talked about community events & that they never touch on car seats because they don't have a CPST. So, he wants me to help at community events to spread the word on safety, possibly help at the station should a parent need a seat check & he wants me to see about writing some car seat safety articles for their monthly news letter.

So, where do I start? LOL... What kind of forms do I need to look into for when/if I do a check? How should I break down the safety articles for the news letter? I was thinking each car seat step at a time, or maybe 2 at a time seeings that some sort of overlap each other.

I wanna get myself organized & prepared before I actually get all started.

TIA all.

For checks, at a minimum you'll need a checklist (there are some in the back of the technician manual, also on the web), a waiver, a recall list, scale and tape measure, a few pool noodles and some locking clips. The fire hall might have their own waiver they want you to use that will protect them as well. If they used to do checks and just don't have a person now, they might have supplies.

Safety Belt Safe has a really comprehensive checklist that is also great for collecting statistics available on their site, as another checklist option.

And what about brochures or handouts for when you're doing community events (or even they are without you?)

Extra Turbo screws.

You'd think I'd remember, but uh, where do you guys order your fave brochures?

Well, it depends what you want.

SBS has some great ones- both free reproducibles and brochures you can buy.

And I happen to know someone who made a brochure promoting best practice after her family's crash.