Sun safety is a habit that pays “healthy” dividends for employees — even in off hours and on vacation! Getting a sunburn is serious business; health experts say, at the worst, just five bad (blistering) sunburns increase the chances of skin cancer by 80 percent. Sun exposure is especially tricky for park district workers who are often in the sun for long periods.

Since you can get sunburned even on a cloudy day, and lifeguards also deal with light reflected off the water they’re scanning, an excellent safety habit is to keep applying sunscreen — and apply it properly. 

Dundee Township Park District has made it easier for lifeguards to be on top of sun safety when they’re on the job. The agency’s two-pronged approach earned it two Risk Management Grant and Recognition awards in recent years. “Our grant proposals solved sun safety issues,” explains Christine Hermans, Safety and Training Coordinator...

We’re in the middle of a cybercrime epidemic, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to let up anytime soon. Last year the Identity Theft Resource Center Annual Data Breach Report recorded 3,205 cyberattacks, up from 2,365 in 2023. Cybercrime cost the United States an estimated $452.3B last year, not to mention hours, days or weeks to repair the breach — plus the impact of identity theft of employees’ and customers’ personal information.

As the numbers escalate, so do the types of cybercrime. From phishing to smishing, to vishing, to malware hidden or embedded in files, websites, images, documents, audio files, apps or web ads. Some malware, called ransomware, can take over entire systems, holding them hostage for money...

Although summer is the busiest time for PDRMA members with programs, pools and plenty of visitors, what you keep doing behind the scenes becomes even more important as activities at your agency increase...

Ten minutes might not seem like a lot of time — but in just that long, your staff can learn how to save lives, protect property, keep a child safe or deal with a natural disaster...