Safety Alerts
Overview
Safety Alerts automatically monitors U.S. federal recall feeds and turns relevant recalls into ready-to-post social media content for your practice. When a safety recall is issued by the FDA, CPSC, NHTSA, or USDA that matches your practice specialty, Social Cascade creates a branded post you can approve, skip, or let auto-publish.
Safety Alerts is available on Pro and Premier plans. Teams on the Base plan can upgrade in Team Settings > Subscription to access this feature.
Before You Start
- Make sure at least one social account is connected in Team Settings > Social Accounts.
- Safety Alerts uses your team’s Practice Focus (set in Team Settings) to filter recalls relevant to your specialty.
- Email alerts are sent to team Admins only.
How Safety Alerts Work
- Social Cascade checks federal recall databases every few hours for new recalls from the FDA (food, drug, and device), CPSC (consumer products), NHTSA (vehicle and car seat), and USDA FSIS (food safety).
- Recalls are matched to your practice specialty and filtered by severity (Class I, II, or III).
- A branded post is generated with a recall summary, image, and caption ready for your social accounts.
- You receive an email alert and see the pending alert on your Overview page.
Reviewing and Acting on Alerts
- From the Overview page, click a pending Safety Alert, or go to Safety Alerts in the left sidebar.
- Review the recall details, generated caption, and image.
- Choose an action:
- Approve & Schedule — The post is queued and will publish at the scheduled time.
- Skip — Dismiss the alert without posting.
- Cancel — If the post was auto-published, cancel it before it goes live.
You can also act on alerts directly from the email by clicking the action buttons. These links work for 72 hours after the email is sent.
Auto-Post
If you prefer to publish safety alerts automatically, enable Auto-Post in your Safety Alert settings:
- Go to Settings > Safety Alerts.
- Toggle Auto-Post on.
- Set your severity threshold — only recalls at or above this severity level will auto-post.
When a recall matches your auto-post criteria, it is scheduled to publish about one hour after detection. You will receive a confirmation email with a Cancel link in case you want to stop it before it goes live.
Email Notification Settings
Control which recall alerts trigger email notifications:
- Go to Settings > Notifications.
- Toggle Urgent Safety Alerts (Class I) and Important Safety Alerts (Class II) on or off.
Class I recalls are the most critical (serious health risk). Class II recalls involve less severe risks. Class III recalls do not trigger email notifications.
Customizing Your Alert Posts
You can customize how your safety alert posts look:
- Go to Settings > Safety Alert Template.
- Upload your logo and set your brand color to match your practice branding.
- Choose a template style and add a custom footer message.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| I don’t see Safety Alerts in my sidebar | Your team is on the Base plan, which does not include Safety Alerts. | Upgrade your plan in Team Settings > Subscription. |
| I’m not receiving email alerts | Email notifications may be turned off, or your role is not Admin. | Check Settings > Notifications to confirm alerts are enabled. Only Admins receive Safety Alert emails. |
| An auto-posted alert published content I didn’t want | Auto-post is enabled and the recall met your severity threshold. | Click Cancel in the confirmation email (valid for 72 hours) to remove the scheduled post. Adjust your severity threshold or disable auto-post in Settings. |
| The email action link says “expired” | Email action links are valid for 72 hours. | Log in to Social Cascade and take the action from the Safety Alerts page instead. |
| Alerts don’t seem relevant to my practice | Your Practice Focus may not be set or may not match your specialty. | Update your Practice Focus in Team Settings. See Choosing Your Practice Focus. |
FAQ
Q: Which federal agencies are monitored?
A: Social Cascade monitors the FDA (food, drug, and medical device recalls), CPSC (consumer product recalls), NHTSA (vehicle and car seat recalls), and USDA FSIS (food safety alerts).
Q: Can I turn off Safety Alerts entirely?
A: You can turn off email notifications in Settings > Notifications. If you do not want posts generated, disable auto-post and simply skip any pending alerts.
Q: Will Safety Alerts post to all my connected accounts?
A: Posts are generated for your connected Facebook and Instagram accounts by default. You can review and adjust the target platforms before approving.