| | | | | | | | | | ALERT: Stop Spinning! If you are in your CPS online profile and the page won't load (spinning circle), it is probably because you are using Internet Explorer for the browser. Internet Explorer is not compatible with some web pages because it is no longer supported/updated. The solution is to use a different browser such as Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Edge. | | | | | | Safe Kids Worldwide Team Cert is Here to Help! The Safe Kids team is available to help you with recertification, course management, CEU audits and any other certification-related issues. | | | | | | Do you offer Virtual CPS Education? Let caregivers know who you are. Technicians from all over have been offering creative ways to still assist caregivers during the pandemic. Whether it is remote education over the phone or a virtual inspection, making sure you have all the tools to offer accurate and correct information is important. Locating the car seat manuals for their specific seat online, having props such as dolls to show proper harnessing techniques to having a list of car seat and vehicle manufacturers to share with the caregiver, will make your educational session easier. Now that Virtual/Remote Education has been around for several months, we would love to hear about interesting tips and tricks you have used to make remote education easier for both you as the CPST/I and the caregiver. Most importantly you want to ensure caregivers know you offer virtual inspections by updating your CPS online profile and adding the Virtual Education attribute so when a caregiver uses the “Find a Tech” resource it will automatically be displayed.  To add the virtual education attribute, log into your CPS online profile, click “Update Profile”, select the “Attributes” tab, scroll down to Virtual Education and click the box. Now when a caregiver searches for a CPST/I it will indicate that you offer this service in the extra training section. For more information on offering Virtual Inspections check out the virtual education webinar or for more resources log onto the Safe Kids Certification website and click on Resources-FAQs to access the Virtual Education toolkit. Safe Kids Certification would like to thank all the hardworking and dedicated CPSTs, who despite the challenges of 2020, found ways to conquer those challenges in order to ensure families still received the help with their child passenger safety needs. | | | | Completed Car Seat Check Alternative CEUs and now being audited? Audits are exclusively to verify the completion of Continuing Education Units (CEUs). Now with the addition of seat check alternatives (completing CEUs in place of seat checks) if you are audited you will also have to provide proof of completion for your seat check alternative CEUs. You may mix and match seat checks, and seat check alternative CEUs as long as when combined they total 5 seat checks or CEUs. If you did not complete any of your seat checks with an instructor or tech proxy and will not be able to do so, then you will need to complete a total of 5 CEUs to make up for the 5 required seat checks. If you have any questions about audits, please contact Debbie at cpsaudit@safekids.org. Submitted by Debbie Landoskey, Quality Assurance Specialist, Safe Kids Worldwide. (Ormond Beach, Fla.) | | 2021 LATCH Manual Have you heard?! SRN is happy to announce that the 2021 LATCH Manual—which we affectionately call Greenie—is now available at www.saferidenews.com! The 12th edition provides all the latest guidance for the proper use of the LATCH system, as well as various other aspects of car seat use. As always, it has been fully reviewed and revised, and contains many updates to manufacturer instructions in past editions, both for CR products and vehicles, as well as new-model additions. SRN prepares the LATCH Manual to help CPSTs in their important efforts to efficiently and accurately educate caregivers, whether in-person or remotely—and with every edition, our goal is to serve CPSTs even better. We hope you will agree that this is the most useful LATCH Manual yet! CEUs: LATCH Manual users can earn a continuing education unit (CEU) for CPST recertification by taking the quiz on our website (www.saferidenews.com). The new 2021 quiz is posted, and the 2019 edition quiz will also remain available until June 1, 2021. In Canada?: Canadian customers, please go to https://www.carseatgroup.ca/latch-manual to order, or send questions to latchcanada@gmail.com. Submitted by Denise Donaldson, CPST-I, Safe Ride News Publications, Publisher/Editor | | | | | | Policing Bad Information This is a good news/bad news story. It is great news when others join us in the effort to keep kids safe in cars and correctly install car seats. However, it is not such great news when websites go up with incorrect or obsolete information or articles written by people without the expertise that we have from becoming a certified child passenger safety technician and experience in conducting car seat check events. Sometimes they cut and paste our information and add it to their websites--but it could be outdated information. Bottom line is that wrong information or bad tips can cause serious injuries and cost lives of our youngest kids. As you travel around the Internet and see a rogue website or an uninformed blogger provide wrong information, please consider contacting them to urge them to take down the wrong information or contact CPScert@safekids.org so we can take action. Submitted by Anthony Green, Safe Kids Worldwide, Chief Officer for Advocacy & Network | | | | | | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Reports The National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA), an office of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is responsible for providing a wide range of analytical and statistical support to NHTSA and the highway safety community at large. For more information: Read More | | | | National Highway Traffic Safety Research NHTSA's research offices are the Office of Vehicle Safety Research and the Office of Behavioral Safety Research. The Office of Vehicle Safety Research's mission is to strategize, plan, and implement research programs to continually further the agency's goals in reduction of crashes, fatalities, and injuries. Our research is prioritized based on potential for crash/fatality/injury reductions and is aligned with Congressional Mandates, along with DOT and NHTSA goals. The Office of Behavioral Safety Research studies behaviors and attitudes in highway safety, focusing on drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and motorcyclists, and uses that to develop and refine countermeasures to deter unsafe behaviors and promote safe alternatives. | | | | | | | | Conferences Come Visit the Certification Team at Virtual Lifesavers 2021 Are you planning to attend Lifesavers virtually this year? If so, we would love to “see” you there! Visit the certification team at the Safe Kids Worldwide exhibit booth during the conference to get your questions answered about recertification alternatives, CEU options and much more. We look forward to connecting with you there! | | Online Courses A variety of continuing education webinars, to fulfill both the CEU requirement as well as seat check alternatives, are available online and free of charge. Learn more. Community Education webinars, which can fulfill your Community Education requirements or be used as teaching hour alternatives, are also available online at cpsboard.org. | | Upcoming Safe Kids Webinars Safe Kids is now using Zoom webinars. If you are not able to use Zoom or miss one, most webinars are recorded and posted on the CPS Board website. Goodbaby International: Product Update, Spring 2021
Thursday, March 4, 2021
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET (1 CEU)
Register Now More webinars coming soon! Updates posted on Facebook. | | | | | | | For Instructors Teaching Hours and Community Education Webinars: Build More Options Recertification alternatives have been created to allow CPSTIs who do not have the ability to teach to still maintain their instructor certification by completing Community Education hours in place of teaching hours. You may mix and match teaching hours and community education hours to fulfill your requirement, check out the conversion chart below. Technicians (CPSTs) also need to complete a Community Education requirement and for those who have been unable to accomplish this by attending a two hour car seat check event, they can replace it by completing a 1 hour community education session. Ever think about hosting a webinar and offering community education hours? This may be a great time to help other technicians with their recertification requirements. With the limited public contact that most have had this would be a great opportunity to create a session on improving communication skills (great for people new to virtual education also), instructor development or reaching underserved and diverse communities during a pandemic.  Submitted by Debbie Landoskey, Quality Assurance Specialist, Safe Kids Worldwide. (Ormond Beach, Fla.) | | | | | | | | | | Questions? Comments? Concerns? Safe Kids Worldwide
CPS Certification
1255 23rd Street NW, Suite 400
Washington, D.C. 20037
CPScert@safekids.org
Phone: 202-875-6330 Ideas and Article Submissions Advocates and manufacturers are welcome to submit articles, or suggestions for articles, to the CPS Express! Send your ideas and submissions to cpscert@safekids.org. All submissions may be edited for content and length. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
