Beginning the last day of this month, play yard manufacturers and importers will have to make sure that their products satisfy new federal safety standards. The framed enclosures for infants and toddlers have been linked to many injuries in recent years. Just between 2007 and 2011, the Consumer Product Safety Commission received reports of 2,100 play yard incidents that included 60 child deaths and 170 injuries.
Common Play Yard Injuries Have Included:
• Entrapment • Fall accident injuries • Entrapment • Strangulation • Suffocation
About 90% of play yard accidents involved a side rail that had collapsed-a safety problem that can cause a number of the injuries mentioned above. Also, when a side rail fails and drops down, a toddler that is unsupervised is more at risk of getting out of the play yard and wandering off.
If your child was injured in a play yard, do not hesitate to contact our Boston products liability law firm right away.
Under Danny’s Law, which is the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008’s Section 104, play yards will have to include side rails that do not make a sharp V formation when folded. Sturdier corner brackets are going to be mandatory so that there aren’t any sharp-edged cracks and side rails will (hopefully) be less prone to collapsing. Another requirement, stronger mattress attachments, should hopefully prevent kids from becoming entrapped between the play yard and the mattress.
The law is named after Danny Keysar, a toddler who was fatally strangled at a childcare facility in 1998 when the play yard he was in collapsed. His neck became entrapped in the enclosure’s rails, which had folded into a V.
Our Boston child injury law firm represents kids and their families with Massachusetts products defect claims against negligent distributors and manufacturers.
Related Web Resources:
Play Yards: New Safety Rule to Take Effect, CPSC, February 19, 2013
Danny’s Story, Kids in Danger
More Blog Posts:
Boston Products Liability?: Keep Kids Away from Single-Load Liquid Laundry Pods, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, November 25, 2012
Buckyballs Toy Magnets Discontinued in the Wake of CPSC Lawsuit and ‘Dangerous to Children’ Allegations, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, October 31, 2012
Massachusetts Trampoline Parks: Are They Safe?, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, September 12, 2012