First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton Joins CPSC to Release Child Care Safety Checklist

NEWS from CPSC

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Office of Information and Public Affairs

Washington, DC 20207

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 12, 1999
Release # 99-094

CPSC Consumer Hotline: (800) 638-2772
CPSC Media Contact: Ken Giles, (301) 504-7052

First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton Joins CPSC to Release Child Care Safety Checklist

WASHINGTON, D.C. - First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton joined U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Chairman Ann Brown today to kick off a national campaign to alert parents and caregivers to safety hazards in child care settings. Among the findings in a 1998 CPSC study of 220 child care settings across the United States, two-thirds had at least one safety hazard. CPSC visited four types of licensed child care settings, including federal, non-profit, for-profit and in-home. "Some hazards are obvious, like playground surfacing that has worn thin," said Brown. "Other hazards are hidden dangers that may not be obvious. Even the best parents and child care providers may not be aware of these hidden hazards."

Many child care settings provide safe environments for young children. Yet, CPSC knows of at least 56 children who have died in child care settings since 1990. In 1997, about 31,000 children, 4 years old and younger, were treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms for injuries at child care and school settings.

The CPSC study looked at eight product areas with potential safety hazards in child care settings selected at random. Following are the results:

38 percent had children wearing outerwear with drawstrings at the neck.
27 percent did not keep the playground surfacing well-maintained.
24 percent did not have safe playground surfacing.
26 percent had loops on the window blind cords.
19 percent had cribs containing soft bedding.
13 percent did not use child safety gates where necessary.
5 percent were using products that had been recalled by CPSC.

To help remedy the situation, CPSC has prepared a Child Care Safety Checklist for child care providers and parents to use. The checklist will help caregivers become informed about hidden hazards by giving them a list of things to look for to make their homes and child care settings safer for children. Parents can use the checklist when choosing child care settings and ensuring that the child care provider is vigilant in monitoring product recall announcements and removing dangerous items.

"The Child Care Safety Checklist will provide parents and child care providers with the information they need to ensure that children are safe in all child care settings," said First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. "This effort is part of the Administration's commitment to making child care better, safer and more affordable for America's working families."

"The safety of the children in our centers has always been of paramount importance," said David J. Barram, Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which administers 112 Federal childcare centers nationwide. "To do our job even better, by Mother's Day 1999 we will have computers online in all of our centers. Then, at a moment's notice, we can pass along safety alerts from CPSC. Those computers also can be used to provide a network for all GSA childcare centers to share best practices, ideas and information to improve all aspects of Federal childcare."

CPSC is sending the checklist to many groups nationwide, including the National Child Care Information Center, National Association for the Education of Young Children, Head Start, state licensing authorities and other providers and organizations that work with them. To get a free hard copy of the checklist, send a postcard to Child Care Safety Checklist, CPSC, Washington, DC 20207. "We want to get a checklist in the hands of every caregiver," said Brown. "Child care providers should use this checklist to go through their facility and make it a safer place for the children in their care."

Consumers can also view a video clip about the checklist (transcript). This is in "streaming video" format.