UL, Disney Team Up for 'Wild' Kids Outreach
Underwriters
Laboratories said March 12 it will expand its youth safety education
program with help from units of The Walt Disney Company. The program
targets children ages 5-12; to develop the curriculum, UL will carry
out a study gauging the safety consciousness of U.S. children.
The "Disney's Wild About Safety®" lessons will encompass household,
electrical, water, and recreation safety messages and reach children
through Disney Parks and Resorts, Radio Disney, Disney.com, Disney
Educational Productions, and UL's safety ambassadors. This program is
the most extensive ever by UL, it said.
It also said the program builds on a Disney Parks and Resorts safety
initiative featuring characters Timon and Pumbaa and on UL's I am
Safety Smart! home safety education program for youngsters. "We are
pleased to expand our relationship with UL, which will build upon our
successful `Disney's Wild About Safety®' program that was inaugurated
in 2003 to educate young visitors inside our theme parks," said Greg
Hale, chief safety officer for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Two
UL-sponsored DVDs, one featuring Timon and Pumbaa emphasizing important
safety lessons for ages 5-8 and the other exploring the science of
safety for ages 9-12, will be available to educators in January 2008.
"Our ultimate goal is to promote safety to children and instill them
with a safety consciousness," said Keith Williams, UL's President/CEO.
"We want to help provide them with the tools to make them Safety Smart®
and make responsible Safety Smart® decisions throughout their lives."