Member accounts are reserved for government officials responsible for enforcing amusement ride regulations, CARES advisory board members, and other experts deemed necessary by the CARES membership.

• To apply for a members-only account, visit the membership application page.
• If you've forgotten your account information, visit the send account information page.
• To change your username or password, visit the change account information page.

CARES members are asked to keep the following information current. Links for the following features are provided on the members-only page:

• Use the update contact page to maintain current contact information (name, address, phone, email, etc.). Use the update account info page to change username and password.
• Members representing regulatory agencies can use the update agency page and add/delete agency files page to maintain current information describing their regulatory program.
• Advisory Board members can use the update advisory board information page to maintain a current bio.

The CARES website allows voting members to introduce motions, second motions, and vote on ballots electronically via the members-only page.

• Any voting member may introduce a motion. Links to this page will appear on the members-only page if the logged-in user is a voting member.
• Voting members are automatically notified via email when a new motion is introduced, and have up to two weeks to second the motion.
• Voting members are automatically notified via email when a motion has been seconded and is open for vote. Voting remains open for two weeks.
• Recent ballot items are listed at the top right side of the members-only page with links to detail pages for each item. The detail pages provide voting members with clickable buttons to second a motion that has been introduced or vote on a motion that has been seconded. Votes may be changed up until the closing date of the ballot. An optional comment box is provided on the voting form. A copy of the vote (new or changed) will be emailed to the voting member as a receipt.
• The member who introduced the motion will see a "Withdraw Motion" link on the details page during the period of time that the motion is awaiting a second or open for vote. Voting members are automatically notified via email when a motion is withdrawn.
• CARES members can view the details of any ballot by clicking the "details" link to the right of the issue on the members-only page. For closed votes, the results page shows vote tally, the agencies that voted, and comments received (presented anonymously).

Notices regarding important CARES events or safety alerts can be emailed to members and subscribers, and posted on the CARES home page and/or the members-only page.

• Use the add CARES alert page to issue a safety alert or broadcast a bulletin. CARES alerts are emailed to all members and non-member subscribers. A list of alerts is available on the website as well. This feature is intended to provide quick dissemination of safety alerts to inspectors and other interested individuals.
• Use the add announcement page to send out a general information or CARES business message. A forms interface allows you to specify whether to post the announcement on the website or email it to members, or both. You can also select the posting location(s) and group(s) of CARES members to which the announcement will be emailed.

Subscribing to the CARES Safety Alert Program

• Inspectors and other interested individuals can sign up to have CARES Safety Alerts emailed to them using the subscription page. An unsubscribe link appears in every emailed alert. If a CARES member wants to add a list of subscribers, contact the CARES system administrator.
• Only a limited number of file types are approved for upload to CARES (e.g., PDF, Word documents, image files, etc.). If you attempt to upload a non-approved file type attachment, an error message will be generated. If you feel that the file needs to be associated with the alert, contact the CARES system administrator for help.
• If more than three files need to be associated with a message, click "Add Announcement" or "Add Alert" to insert the message record and upload the first three files. When the confirmation page is displayed, clicking "Update" will allow you to add additional files. Once the confirmation page shows all the required attachments, click "Confirm" to initiate the message.

Adding file attachments to Alerts and Announcements

• The "add announcement" and "add CARES alert" forms allow up to three file attachments. Those files will be uploaded to the CARES system for storage, attached to the outgoing email broadcast, and be available by hyperlink when the message is displayed on the CARES website.
• Only a limited number of file types are approved for upload to CARES (e.g., PDF, Word documents, image files, etc.). If you attempt to upload a non-approved file type attachment, an error message will be generated. If you feel that the file needs to be associated with the alert, contact the CARES system administrator for help.
• If more than three files need to be associated with a message, click "Add Announcement" or "Add Alert" to insert the message record and upload the first three files. When the confirmation page is displayed, clicking "Update" will allow you to add additional files. Once the confirmation page shows all the required attachments, click "Confirm" to initiate the message.

Updating Alerts and Announcements

• Members may modify their own announcements from the my announcements page. If the original message was emailed to a group of users, a check box will be provided to let you choose whether or not to email the update to the original recipient list.
• The Removal Date parameter determines how long the announcement will be posted on the CARES website. If that field is empty, the announcement will be posted indefinitely. To remove an announcement, set the Removal Date to some past date.

This is a Yahoo eGroups-style list serve that allows CARES members to communicate informally.

• Participation is optional. Members must subscribe to the eGroup prior to posting or receiving messages.
• Posts and replies are automatically transmitted to all subscribers of the discussion group.
• CARES-members Info Page is used to subscribe, unsubscribe, view archives, or view the subscriber list