On October 9, 2007, the House passed four bills that are designed to improve child safety – better ensuring that the products that children use are completely safe and reliable.

The Children’s Gasoline Burn Prevention Act, H.R. 814, protects children from death or serious injury from burn hazards, by requiring the same child-resistant caps for all gasoline containers, whether sold with or without gasoline. This bill was signed into law on July 17, 2008.
 
The Danny Keysar Child Product Safety Notification Act, H.R. 1699, protects children from unsafe cribs, high chairs and other durable infant and toddler products by requiring direct consumer notification of recalls of these products.   
 
The Product Safety Civil Penalties Improvement Act, H.R. 2474, provides a better incentive for companies to report safety problems with their products by increasing the maximum civil penalty for violations of the Consumer Product Safety Act from $1.82 million to $10 million over two years.
 
The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, H.R. 1721, protects children from drowning by requiring the use of proper anti-entrapment drain covers in pools and spas and by creating a swimming pool safety grant program to encourage states to adopt comprehensive safety laws. This bill was incorporated into the Energy Independence and Security Act, which was signed into law on December 19, 2007.
 
Following are additional information on each of these four critical bills:

Children’s Gasoline Burn Prevention Act - H.R. 814

This bipartisan bill protects children from death or serious injury from burn hazards.  This bill, introduced by Rep. Dennis Moore (D-KS), protects children from death or serious injury from burn hazards, by requiring the same child-resistant caps for all gasoline containers, whether sold with or without gasoline.  Currently, the CPSC isn’t empowered to regulate gas cans because these containers aren’t sold with gasoline inside.  This bill corrects that problem.

Rep. Dennis Moore introduced this bill after a four-year-old boy in Kansas was killed as a result of a gas can.  Recently, in Leavenworth, Kansas, a four-year-old boy died and his three-year-old brother was permanently scarred when the children opened and spilled the contents of a gas can, causing the gasoline vapors to be ignited by a nearby hot water heater.  Gasoline is dangerous because it is highly volatile – the fumes are capable of ignition up to 12 feet away from a pooled source.

A study showed that, in a single year, more than 1,200 young children were treated in emergency rooms for injuries related to gasoline.  Gasoline in cans not secured with child-resistant caps can pose a serious danger if small children gain access to them.  Data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission estimate that, in a single year, more than 1,200 children under the age of five were treated in emergency rooms for injuries related to gasoline, either through fire, ingestion, or inhalation of fumes.

Danny Keysar Child Product Safety Notification Act - H.R. 1699

This bipartisan bill improves the recall process for cribs, high chairs and other durable infant and toddler products.  This bill, introduced by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), requires the manufacturers of a defined list of 12 durable infant and toddler products – including cribs, high chairs, strollers, bath seats, play yards, walkers, and swings – to provide postage-paid, privacy-protected recall registration cards with the products to allow consumers to register them by mail.  This is to improve the effectiveness of recalls of these children’s products, which currently rely heavily on media and do not provide direct notice to consumers.

This bill is named after Danny Keysar, who died when his crib collapsed five years after the crib model was recalled.  Danny Keysar, a 16-month-old boy, died in 1998 when he took a nap in a portable crib that collapsed, strangling him.  The crib model had been recalled five years earlier for the very defect that led to the collapse, but Danny’s parents and his caregiver were unaware of the recall.

It is critical to improve the effectiveness of the recalls of these durable infant and toddler products.  The recall system that exists today for getting hazardous infant and toddler products out of the marketplace and out of parents’ homes is woefully lacking.  The current system of relying on the media alone is not effective in getting the word out to parents about defective products for young children.  The evidence is that high chairs, cribs, strollers, infant swings and carriers often continue to be used for months or years after they have been recalled.  

Product Safety Civil Penalties Improvement Act - H.R. 2474

This bipartisan bill improves incentives for companies to report safety problems, by increasing the maximum fines for violations.  This bill, introduced by Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL), Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, provides a better incentive for companies to report safety problems with their products by increasing the maximum civil penalty for violations of the Consumer Product Safety Act from $1.82 million to $10 million over two years.

This increase in the maximum penalty will be a strong deterrent for flouting the law.  This increase in potential fines should prove to be a strong deterrent for any company that might otherwise be inclined to flout the law.  As CPSC Commissioner Thomas Moore has stated, “Perhaps some companies would be less likely to try to stall our agency by putting off reporting hazardous products if we had penalties that were more commensurate with the harm they can cause.” 

For a number of companies, the current top penalty wouldn’t make a dent in the company’s bottom line.  Without a higher maximum penalty, the Consumer Product Safety Commission lacks sufficient punitive measures to provide an incentive for companies to report product safety hazards to the Commission and otherwise ensure that their products are safe for consumers.  For instance, the $750,000 fine that was assessed by the CPSC against Wal-Mart for failing to report a defect in fitness machines represented 1 minute, 33 seconds worth of sales for the retail giant. 

Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act - H.R. 1721

This bipartisan bill includes a number of provisions to reduce the incidence of childhood drownings.  This bill, introduced by Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, includes three initiatives to improve the safety of children at swimming pools and spas.  The first initiative is to require the use of safe drain covers at swimming pools and spas – safe drain covers are those that are designed to prevent the hazard of drain entrapment.  The second initiative is to establish a federal program, through incentive grants, to encourage the states to enact laws that require layers of protection in residential swimming pools to reduce the incidence of childhood drowning.  The third initiative is to establish a national public education program led by the Consumer Product Safety Commission on pool and spa safety.

Drowning is the second highest cause of accidental deaths among American children, ranking right behind automobile accidents.  In 2003, drowning incidents caused 761 childhood deaths; in 2004, over 3,000 children were treated in emergency rooms for near-drowning, often resulting in permanent injury.  Approximately 40 percent of childhood drowning deaths take place in pools and spas. 

This bill is named after Virginia Graeme Baker, who drowned as a result of drain entrapment.  Safe drain covers at pools and spas are critically important, due to the danger of drain entrapment.  Drains at some pools and spas have sufficiently powerful suction that they can trap hair or body parts of children, trapping them underwater.  A child can be killed or seriously injured when the force of the suction is so great that the child cannot free him or herself.  One such tragedy was the case of seven-year-old Virginia Graeme Baker, granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker.  She drowned after she became entrapped by the powerful suction on the drain of a spa.  Safe drain covers are designed to prevent the circular or swirling action of the water that tends to cause suction.