BSA Safety Moments offer one-page advice on dozens of Scouting topics
It just takes a moment to make your pack, troop or crew a little bit safer.
With its Safety Moments, covering a range of topics from acute mountain sickness to zip lines, the Boy Scouts of America’s Health and Safety team hopes to make Scouting an even safer place, one page at a time.
“These are attempts to simplify and streamline complex topics,” says Health and Safety team lead Richard Bourlon. “It’s so much better to prevent rather than react to an incident.”
How does a Scouter use a Safety Moment?
Safety Moments can be viewed online or downloaded as a print-suitable PDF to share with others.
Speaking of, Bourlon suggests starting each meeting with a Safety Moment on a timely topic.
Winter camping trip coming up? There’s a Safety Moment for that. Horseback riding? There’s one for that, too. Launching model rockets? Yes, indeed.
“Use them at your University of Scouting, your board meetings, your roundtables, as well,” he says.
But remember the operative word: moment. Don’t spend more than a few minutes on this.
What topics are covered in Safety Moments?
There are 76 Safety Moments so far, and they’re all collected on this page.
Some of the Safety Moments, like the ones about frostbite or snake bites, offer practical solutions to use in emergencies.
Others are more contemplative. There’s one about helping Scouts build resilience, while another provides ways adults can fight obesity in young people.
And still others are beyond words entirely. I’m thinking of my personal favorite: Nap on Safely.
Take a look, and see which Safety Moments will benefit your Scouts.
What are the most popular Safety Moments?
About 40,000 people have visited the Safety Moments page so far. The three most popular, as of this writing:
What’s the plan for adding more Safety Moments?
The team’s original goal was to have 36 Safety Moments, says BSA Health and Safety consultant Hannah Coffey.
“However, based on their popularity, we have been adding them as we see an opportunity for timely topics,” she says. “We know many people are crunched for time, so a Safety Moment is a great way to quickly convey a message about possible risks or hazards.”
If you have an idea for a new Safety Moment, contact the Health and Safety team.