COREY Safety Act Introduced in U.S. House

On July 18th, Representatives Joe Courtney and Jim Himes of Connecticut introduced H.R. 8406, the COREY Safety Act on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. The COREY Safety Act will amend the Clery Act of 1990 to expand required college safety reporting to include incidents resulting in death or serious injury. According to a study by the American College Health Association (ACHA) published by the NIH in 2013, crimes account for .53% of student fatalities, whereas accidents account for 10.8%! This means that your college student is 2000% MORE likely to die from an accident on campus than from a crime-related incident.

Ever since RAD began researching bunk and loft bed falls over seven years ago, it quickly became apparent that data was very hard to come by. The only reliable data that exists is from ER numbers which show 71,000 ER visits every year from bunk and loft bed injuries among kids between 4-21 years of age. Not surprisingly, there is a significant spike in the 18-21 year old age group which as we know is the prime college-attending years. When I joined up with Nanette Hausman (College911.net) two years ago, she and I formed the College Safety Coalition and began pursuing a way to find this critical data. A substantial void exists in the data collected and metrics used to identify, manage, and minimize serious injury and death in college communities.

This bill WILL prevent injuries and save lives by creating the necessary metrics that meet a new safety standard to allow students, parents, and stakeholders to view, invest, and ultimately improve college safety from all angles.

Call or email your U.S. Representative and Senators today to urge them to support this life-saving legislation! Do it for your most precious asset…your kids!