CPSC Releases Album of Catchy Safety Songs

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is trying to reach young people with an album of catchy safety-themed songs including "Protect Ya Noggin," an ode to wearing the right helmet. Joseph Galbo, a social media specialist at the agency, tells NPR that the CPSC is trying to target people 13 to 24 with messages about what agency data shows are the hazards mostly likely to injure them, including ATVs and fireworks. The seven-track album We're Safety Now Haven't We spans multiple genres, with a K-Pop song about firework safety and an EDM track about putting your phone away while you're walking. The Spanish-language "Se Pone Caliente" is a reminder to check smoke alarms are working.

"One of the things we want to do with this album is just kind of provide young people a reminder that, 'Hey, it's important to wear a helmet when you're riding a bike," Galbo says. "And if you do it, you'll be in a better position to live a healthier and safer life." He says the agency worked with artists from the country, one or two of which are "fairly well known." Creating the lyrics, he says, was a "really fun collaboration where we sent them some of our driest safety materials you can imagine" and let the artists figure out what to do with them. Some songs lists safety tips while are what Galbo terms as "a little more conceptual." The artists remained anonymous to keep the focus on the safety messages.

The album can be listened to or downloaded here. All the tracks are in the public domain and the CPSC is encouraging people to remix them. The album will be no surprise to people on social media who have seen the agency become a "meme factory cranking out odd, eye-catching, funny and sometimes snarky public safety warnings," Amanda Koosar writes at CNET. Galbo says some of the agency's mascots appear on the album cover, including Potato the dog, seen standing on an ATV, and Quinn the quarantine fox, seen wearing a bike helmet. He says the cover is labeled "Volume 1" in the hope " that maybe if this goes well, we'll get a chance to make more albums someday." (More Consumer Product Safety Commission stories.)