OSC Guardian - Safety Advice

OSC GUARDIAN - SAFETY ADVICE
www.OramSecurity.com

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

How First Aid can help you as well as others.

Trapped father survives with help of phone app By Josh Levs, CNN
January 24, 2010 6:15 p.m. EST
(CNN) -- Alone in the darkness beneath layers of rubble, Dan Woolley felt blood streaming from his head and leg.

Then he remembered -- he had an app for that.

Woolley, an aid worker, husband, and father of two boys, followed instructions on his cell phone to survive the January 12 earthquake in Haiti.

"I had an app that had pre-downloaded all this information about treating wounds. So I looked up excessive bleeding and I looked up compound fracture," Woolley told CNN.


The story above is a perfect example of how knowing first aid can help you as well as others. When we generally think of taking a first aid class, it is to be able to help others, family, co-workers, family...... we never think that the life we may save could be our own. Dan Woolley stayed calm and was able to get the information he needed. What if his phone wasn't charged? Perhaps it was damaged in the collapse? Getting trained properly is truly the only way you can guarantee having the knowledge you may need in an emergency.

Oram Security

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Donating to Charity to help those in Haiti?

Donating to Charity to help those in Haiti?

Any time there is a disaster in the world, many of us look to see what we can do to help. For most of us, that is making a donation to an organization that will get the support, assistance, medical supplies and food to the area and people in need. Unfortunately this is also the time that the con-artists come out of the wood work. Fake charitys as well as those charitiys that only spend a small amount of the donations recieved actually supporting those in need. Already there are new ways to make donations to help thoses in Haiti. The American Red Cross is letting people donate $10, by texting on their phones! (Look to the bottom of this blog to see how to do this)

One of the easest ways to avoid a scam, is to follow the guidelines of the Federal Traid Commision.


FTC Charity Checklist
Thinking about donating to a charity? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, recommends taking these precautions to ensure that your donation dollars benefit the people and organizations you want to help. They’re sensible practices whether you’re solicited by an organization’s employees, volunteers, or professional fundraisers by phone, mail, email, or in person.

Don’t be shy about asking who wants your money. Some charities hire professional fund­raisers for large-scale mailings, telephone drives, and other solicitations rather than use their own staff or volunteers, and then use a portion of the donations to pay the fundraiser’s fees. If you’re solicited for a donation, ask if the caller is a paid fundraiser, who they work for, and the percentage of your donation that will go to the charity and to the fundraiser. If you don’t get a clear answer — or if you don’t like the answer you get — consider donating to a different
organization.

Call the charity. Find out if the organization is aware of the solicitation and has authorized the use of its name. If not, you may be dealing with a scam artist. Ask for written information about the charity, including name, address, and telephone number.
Contact the office that regulates charitable organizations and charitable solicitations in your state to see if the charity or fundraiser must be registered. If so, check to make sure
that the company you’re talking to is registered. For a list of state offices, visit the National Associa­tion of State Charity Officials at www.nasconet.org/agencies. Your state office also can verify how much of your donation goes to the charity, and how much goes to fundraising and man­agement expenses. You also can check out charities with the Better Business Bureau’s (BBB) Wise Giving Alliance (www.bbb.org/charity) and GuideStar (
http://www.guidestar.org/).

Trust your gut — and check your records if you have any doubt about whether you’ve made a pledge or a contribution. Callers may try to trick you by thanking you for a pledge you didn’t make. If you don’t remember making the donation or don’t have a record of your pledge, resist the pressure to give. Be wary of charities that spring up overnight in connection with current events or natural disasters. They may make a compelling case for your money,
but as a practical matter, they probably don’t have the infrastructure to get your donation to the affected area or people.

Watch out for similar sounding names. Some phony charities use names that closely resemble those of respected, legitimate organizations. If you notice a small difference from the
name of the charity you intend to deal with, call the organization you know to check it out. Be cautious of promises of guaranteed sweepstakes winnings in exchange for a contribution. According to U.S. law, you never have to give a donation to be eligible to win a sweepstakes. Be wary of charities offering to send a courier or overnight delivery service to collect your donation immediately.

Know the difference between “tax exempt” and “tax deductible.” Tax exempt means the organization doesn’t have to pay taxes. Tax deductible means you can deduct your contribution on your federal income tax return.
Do not send or give cash donations. Cash can be lost or stolen.
For security and tax record purposes, it’s best to pay by credit card. If you’re thinking about
giving online, look for indicators that the site is secure, like a lock icon on the browser’s status bar or a URL that begins “https:” (the “s” stands for “secure”).
For more information about making your donations count, visit www.ftc.gov/charityfraud.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business
practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters consumer complaints into the Consumer Sentinel Network, a secure online database and investigative tool used by hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.


It is great to give to help those so despratly in need, but make sure you are giving to those that will really help those in need.


American Red Cross Pledges Initial $1 Million to Haiti Relief

Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999 -You can make a donation by calling 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish)

Monday, January 4, 2010

Crimes Were Down in '09 F.B.I Reports

Crimes Were Down in '09, FBI Reports
Jan 02, 2010
In its Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report released last week, the FBI indicated that the volume of violent crime in the nation decreased 4.4 percent and the volume of property crime declined 6.1 percent. More than 11,700 law enforcement agencies contributed to this report, which is based on information from law enforcement agencies that provided three to six common months of data to the FBI from January to June of both 2008 and 2009.
Read More

This is great news. Especially for those who would have fallen into the 4.4 percent of violent crime stats. It doesn't mean anything to those who still were or will be victims of violent crimes. In the past year we have also seen sales of firearms and ammunition increase dramatically.

Purchases of guns and ammunition are surging across the country. Nearly four million background checks -- a key measure of sales because they are required at the purchase of a gun from a federally licensed seller -- were performed in the first three months of 2009. That is a 27% increase over the same period a year earlier, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Read More

Now, do you think that the increased sales could also have had an impact on the decrease in crime? It could. Generally in the past, during times of economic crisis, crimes will increase. People are under stress at work, people are losing their jobs, their insurance, having no luck finding a job..... all of these are catalysts for people to commit crimes. That being said, I think there is something for the bad guys to think about knowing that there is a higher chance that they will bump into a homeowner with a firearm if they break into a home.

These numbers are very reassuring, but seeing them shouldn't make you sit back and relax. There may be fewer victims out there according to the FBI, but you still need to work at making sure you are not one of them. Do you have a firearm that you plan to use to defend your family in case of a home invasion? Do you know the local laws for firearm use? One of the most important, if not the most important thing, is to be proficient in its use. Now, is your firearm available for your spouse to use if you are not home and the need to use it arises? You may feel that you are confident in its use, but are they? The trouble is that many families will purchase a firearm for home defense that their spouse can use, take them to the range once and then stick it in the bedside table or closet and forget about it. While that plan may give you a bit of psychological comfort, it is certainly not the best plan of action for dealing with the deadliest of threats - someone breaking into your home and placing your family at risk.

Most residential burglars devote little if any time to the advance planning of any specific break-in. Their crimes are, for the most part, crimes of opportunity. They pick what appears to be an easy mark. If their advance checking and closer examination reveal a greater risk than anticipated, they move onto a safer target. The more you can do to keep your home from looking like an easy target, the safer you are. There are also many steps that you can take to minimize your loss and improve your chances of recovery if a break-in does occur.

The first step in improving overall security is to take a hard look at the security measures already in your home. To help you with this task, OSC uses a Residential Security Survey. Conducting a security survey is important. Your home cannot be adequately protected until weaknesses are identified and corrected.

Here are a few tips:

1. Place flood lights on the outside of your home and connect them to motion censors.

2. Place a sign in your yard or window stating that there is an alarm. Do not use a sign that states which alarm service is used.

3. Keep shrubs and trees away from your windows. They will block the view of Law

4. Enforcement from seeing if your windows have been broken.

5. If you have a window in either your front or rear door, make sure that the deadbolt you use is set up for key use on both sides. If there is a latch on the inside, the criminal could break the glass and turn the lock open.

Stay safe.