Charging Safety Rules
How can we help people to prevent fires and make them safer at home?
For the 19th time, If participated in the Norwegian ‘Fire protection week’ – a period in September with special focus on fire protection and safety – together with the Norwegian Fire Protection Association (Norsk brannvernforening) and the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB - Direktoratet for samfunnssikkerhet og beredskap).
This year, we wanted to educate people on how to charge home electronics safely by creating the ‘Charging Safety Rules’, which is a consumer-focused guide that everyone can use to decrease the chance of charging- related fires in their homes.
The idea behind the Charging Safety Rules emerged from the identification of the potential to affect people’s habits and provide knowledge about charging safety. Together with experts from the Norwegian Fire Protection Association and the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection, If’s experts created a set of rules that consumers can follow in order to prevent fires in their chargeable home electronics, such as mobile phones, drones, tools and e-scooters.
– We have talked about battery and charging safety for a long time. A lot of the things we all charge in our homes have Lithium-ion batteries, which can create fires that are difficult to extinguish. Every fire affects humans. Our mission is to take care of people’s lives when the worst happens, but preventing a fire is even better.
– Also from an environmental perspective, it is better if a fire never happens, because of the emissions, waste, transportation, etc. that result from a fire, says Sigmund Clementz, who is a Communications Manager at If.
Improving fire safety in Norwegian homes
When engaging in this year’s Fire Protection Week, one of our goals was to find a way to educate consumers without creating an excessive fear of fires, keeping our communication simple and stimulating action. And it worked, even for our own people:
– After one of our meetings, I went home and looked at my own charging safety, and I found two broken chargers, says Janne Kristin Moen, who is a Partner Manager at If.
– Everyone is afraid of fires, but a lot of people have an ‘it won’t happen to me” mindset. Therefore, it’s really motivating to work with something that can limit the risk of fires occurring, by giving consumers the opportunity to do something about it themselves. And we believe this is best achieved by starting with easy and small steps.
The rules were made by experts in the field of fire prevention from If, the Norwegian Fire Protection Association and the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection:
- We’re really pleased to have a large actor like If on board for this project, and it’s been a true pleasure working with them to improve fire safety in Norwegian homes – for the good of our planet and of people, says Mari Bræin Faaberg, who is a manager in the Department of Social Responsibility in the Norwegian Fire Protection Association.
- The Charging Safety Rules have been translated into 20 different languages, including Sami.
- The Charging Safety Rules have been shared on Facebook and Instagram.
- The Charging Safety Rules have also been published on all three partners’ websites.
- A video has been produced that has been spread mostly on Facebook. The video was shown on TV as part of a free advertisement campaign for NGOs in Norway over Christmas.
Janne Kristin Moen
Partner Manager, Oslo
Sigmund Clementz
Communication Manager for House/Car, Oslo
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