Safety Equipment

Don't let savings this summer come at the expense of safety. "Summer is a great time for physical activity, exploring and family trips, but precautions and safety equipment such as sunscreen and bicycle helmets are musts," says Dr. Lynne McCullough, head of the emergency department at UCLA Medical Center. We've put together a list of free or low-cost safety savings.

Balking at what some said would be a burden on homeowners, a divided Los Angeles City Council returned a proposal to committee Friday that would require home buyers to install valves that would seal off gas lines during an earthquake. Advocates said the law would reduce the risk of fires after quakes, but they were unable to muster sufficient votes in the face of opposition from the real estate industry and concerns that the proposal was too narrow.

With executives of major airlines at his side, President Clinton announced Thursday that the industry will retrofit its jetliners voluntarily with cargo-hold fire detection systems. The action follows May's ValuJet crash in Florida in which a fire in the cargo compartment is suspected and it comes as the Federal Aviation Administration is planning to adopt rules to require detectors, as well as fire suppression systems, which are not covered by the voluntary agreement.

Occupants of cars with anti-lock brakes are more likely to be in crashes that kill them than occupants of cars without anti-lock brakes, according to an insurance institute study. Cars with anti-lock brakes are especially more likely to be in crashes where no other car is involved but a passenger is killed--such as when the car runs off the road, according to the study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Despite protests from San Fernando Valley real estate agents, a Los Angeles City Council panel recommended Tuesday that home buyers be required to install valves that automatically seal off gas pipes in an earthquake. The council's Ad Hoc Committee on Earthquake Recovery also recommended that installation of the valves be required for any apartment building, condominium complex, hotel and motel that has more than five units.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced plans Wednesday to require airlines to install more sophisticated flight data recorders on commercial passenger jets that would provide more information for investigators in the event of a crash. The move, prompted by pressure from the National Transportation Safety Board, follows months of delay by the White House, whose Office of Management and Budget had held up the proposed regulations in the face of heavy opposition from the industry.

On the morning of the Northridge earthquake, 122,886 customers of Southern California Gas Co. shut off their gas because they feared damage could cause an explosion or fire. Later, when workers went to restore service, they found that only 15,021 of the cases, or about 12%, actually involved leaks or other damage that merited a shut-off. And of the 51 structural fires after the Jan.

Southern California Gas Co. customers in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys can buy an automatic earthquake shut-off valve as part of an expanded market test of the company's Seismic Services Program. The market test began on the second anniversary of the Northridge earthquake and will end March 31, said Gas Co. spokeswoman Vicki Cho Estrada. A pilot test has been underway in Canoga Park since October.

State lawmakers promised to push for a law requiring whirlpool baths to have nearby emergency shut-off switches after a 16-year-old girl drowned in a hot tub, the sixth such fatality nationwide since 1980. Friends of Tanya Marie Nickens tried to pull her free last weekend from the 3-foot-deep tub, where 12 tons of suction pressure pinned her body over an unprotected grate. It took several minutes for someone to reach the emergency shutoff switch in the fitness club's basement.

When natural disasters strike, the common wisdom is that somewhere, somehow, mobile homes are going to be washed out, blown apart or crumpled. The common wisdom is true. Largely because of shoddy installation and other lax practices, millions of Americans live in factory-built homes that may be unsafe or, at the least, far less safe than conventional single-family houses.