The heat of summer is in full swing. As our children head into the pool to cool off, keep in mind that modern pool and spa drains generally contain direct suction. Powerful suction can trap swimmers under water causing serious brain injury and death. According to statistics reported in the Los Angeles Times, “Between 1999 and 2008, 12 people were killed in pool and spa entrapments and 72 were injured, according to a CPSC report released Thursday.” Fortunately, at the end of 2008, federal legislation went into effect to prevent powerful suction from trapping swimmers at the bottom of pools and spas. In response, public and private pool owners invested in drain covers intended to mitigate the dangerous effects of direct suction drains. However, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a massive voluntary recall just as the summer swimming season starts to heat up. As reported by the Los Angeles Times on May 27, 2011, “About 1 million covers made by eight manufacturers, some among the largest, were being voluntarily pulled after a confidential report revealed the products had failed safety tests. Officials with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said public pools and spas with direct suction systems and recalled covers should close until replacement covers could be installed.” http://www.latimes.com/health/fl-cpsc-recall-florida-pools-20110526,0,5231496.story.
Archive for the ‘Product Defect’ Category
Defective Drain Covers Not Protecting Swimmers
Saturday, July 2nd, 2011Major Safety Recall of Infant and Toddler Products
Thursday, September 30th, 2010Today, Fisher-Price announced a safety recall of more than 11 million products sold for use by infants and toddlers. This giant in the world of manufacturing products for millions of young children worldwide was clearly under pressure from the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission, which warns parents to “immediately” stop using products due to risk of significant harm. For more information about the recall, here is an article posted on msnbc.com.
Baby Cribs Pose Risk of Injury and Death
Monday, May 3rd, 2010On Thursday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) announced the “voluntary recall” of approximately 217,000 Graco cribs due to significant safety risks that came to the public’s attention after several reports of the drop side rail of cribs failing. The CPSC recall notice warns that the rail failure poses a “risk of suffocation and strangulation” as well as risk of the child falling to the ground. The recall period covers cribs sold from February, 2007 to March, 2010. The recall notice includes cribs sold “nationwide”. Thus, if you are an Oregon resident who purchased a Graco crib during this time period, please assume the recall applies to you. For more details about the recall, including photographs of recalled cribs, please read the April 29, 2010 Recall Notice.
If your child has already suffered injury or death as a result of a crib-related incident, please call an attorney immediately so that the claim can be properly reported to the CPSC and your family’s rights can be fully protected. Even if the incident occurred in a crib other than those affected by the current recall, it is still possible that the crib was defective. Therefore, a complete investigation should be undertaken by an attorney and appropriate experts.