Article points out perils of Unapproved Hurricane Protection
Posted by ihpa on July 13, 2009
“You won’t get much help telling the tested products from untested ones”
In an article running in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune Sunday July 12, 2009 the point is well made that little is being done to protect the consumer from inadequate hurricane protection products.
Leslie Chapman-Henderson, CEO of the non-profit group Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, or FLASH: “The only thing worse than no hurricane protection is the wrong hurricane protection.”
Terence McElroy, spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services: “Nothing is sanctioned by the state or, to my knowledge, prohibited by the state. It really is ‘let the buyer beware.”
The article points out that millions of dollars have been spent developing the testing and standards that identify which products work. Building and consumer safety advocates contend that the state needs to require these standards for any product claiming hurricane protection.
Darius Grimes (IHPA Vice President) and others fear that only the devastating effects of a storm as powerful as Hurricanes Charley or Andrew will prompt serious action.
Read the full article: Storm safety may bring perils
