Should You Wear Sunscreen Today?

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Aug. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- It only takes a few hours of strong summer sun to cause a painful sunburn, and to regret forgetting the sunscreen. Using data from NOAA and the EPA, MySafetySign.com has developed a fresh new way to help you stay safe while enjoying the best days of the summer, with shouldiwearsunscreentoday.com. The fun, simple interface makes it easy to see whether you need to apply sunscreen before you leave the house. (Hint: you almost always do.)

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130801/NY56354 )

"Everyone knows how important it is to protect yourself from harmful UV rays, but research shows really low rates of sunscreen use, particularly in teens," said Alex Roitman, Outreach Manager at MySafetySign, "so there is clearly still a large gap between knowing the dangers and preventing them." According to CDC data, only 15 percent of teen girls and 8 percent of teen boys reported using sunscreen when in the sun for an hour or more.

The site uses your location to find the current UV index and weather. Whether you're preparing for your daily commute or hitting the beach, shouldiwearsunscreentoday.com displays a bold "Yes!" or "Nah!" and provides helpful recommendations on the importance of protecting your skin. The cheerful, informative site works equally well across web and mobile devices.

"We wanted to find a catchy and memorable way to remind folks that the sun is fun, but also can be dangerous," continued Roitman. "We thought of our own moms reminding us, 'Don't forget the sunscreen!' just before we left the house." Even on days with low or moderate UV rays, shouldiwearsunscreentoday.com reminds you to wear protective clothing and sunglasses. On high UV index days, the site will instruct you to double up on sun protection: "Roses are red, violets are blue; reapply, or you'll be red, too."

Notes for editors:

About MySafetySign
MySafetySign is the web's largest store for safety signage. The company's mission is to make signs and labels as effective as possible in order to prevent accidents and save lives. Customers can choose from over 40,000 designs and customizable templates.

About SmartSign
SmartSign is one of America's fastest growing e-commerce companies and parent of MySafetySign, MyParkingSign, and more than 50 other sites. The company manufactures and distributes a wide range of signs, tags, mats, and labels. By positioning "signs as solutions," SmartSign has taken a novel approach to ordering signs. Through highly targeted, content-rich, and authoritative retail sites, the company provides specific solutions to specific problems, such as preventing accidents in the workplace.

Sources and statistics in this release derived from:
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/skin/statistics/behavior.htm 
http://www.epa.gov/sunwise/doc/sunscreen.pdf 
http://www2.epa.gov/sunwise/uv-index-scale

SOURCE MySafetySign.com