OnSafety is the Official Blog Site of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Here you'll find the latest safety information as well as important messages that will keep you and your family safe. We hope you'll visit often!
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By CPSC Blogger on May 28, 2010
Memorial Day weekend. While the upcoming 3-day holiday weekend likely evokes thoughts of warm-weather fun, it’s also notorious for a major safety concern. On average, emergency rooms treat more than 4,000 people each year for All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) related injuries. Memorial Day weekend is among the deadliest and most-injury prone holidays when it comes to reported ATV incidents.
If this weekend follows the same path as years past, it will be a continuation of a spring filled with ATV-related incidents. In April alone, media reported 40 adult deaths and 12 deaths of children younger than 16 years of age. These deaths happened all over the country, from Maine to Missouri, from Michigan to California.
An adult ATV is much like a car. It requires skills and training to drive. Children under 16 should not drive an adult ATV, which can travel at more than 60 miles per hour and weigh up to 850 pounds. Children lack the developmental skills to safely drive these machines. ATVs are not toys. They are powerful and potentially dangerous vehicles.
Many deaths are the result of people riding as passengers on single-person ATVs. Though a single-rider ATV seat is long, it is not designed for two (or more) people. Single-rider ATVs are not equipped with handholds or footrests for passengers. Plus, the ATV riding experience is dependent on a driver’s body movement. If a passenger gets in the way or shifts his weight improperly, the driver might not be able to safely control the ATV. It can then roll over or crash.
Deaths, too, happen when kids ride on a friend’s ATV. If you own an ATV, your child may have taken training classes and be skilled, but is his friend trained and skilled, too?
As of April 2009, manufacturers must offer consumers free hands on training through their dealers. Consumers who take the training get $100 worth of incentives, including $50 cash. That leaves it up to you, the ATV buyer, to take the time to get yourself and your children trained on riding ATVs safely. Manufacturers tell CPSC that few ATV purchasers take them up on this training .
So, if you recently purchased an ATV, make sure you and your family have received this free hands-on training. If your ATV is older, be sure that everyone who rides your ATV has been taught how to ride safely. ATV training courses are offered nationwide, often for free. You can find one in your area at the ATV Safety Institute website.
Read more on ATV safety, including tips on wearing helmets and other safety gear, at http://www.atvsafety.gov/.
 Recreational off-highway vehicles (ROVs ), also known as side-by-sides, are different from ATVs. Unlike ATVs, ROVs have a steering wheel, bench or bucket seats, seatbelts, foot controls and a roll cage. They, too, are associated with a number of fatalities and injuries every year.
This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2010/05/atv-related-deaths-ride-high-keep-safety-in-mind/
By CPSC Blogger on May 17, 2010
 Two boys choked on the small, squishy plastic darts in this toy after putting the darts in their mouths. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Family Dollar Stores are announcing the recall of 1.8 million toy dart gun sets.
Two boys, a 9 year old and a 10 year old choked on the plastic toy darts after placing them in their mouths. The darts were inhaled and got stuck in the children’s throats. Both of these boys were playing with a friend and that friend’s toy with adults nearby. The darts weren’t shot into a mouth, as some might expect. They were chewed and swallowed. The suction cups caused the darts to get stuck.
This is the second toy dart gun set recall since December, when OKK trading recalled its “Action Team” Toy Dart Gun Set. An 8-year-old boy died from a dart in that toy. The boy reportedly was chewing on the toy dart when he inadvertently swallowed it and it became lodged in his throat, blocking his ability to breathe.
As parents, we all know to tell babies and toddlers to take things out of their mouths. CPSC tests products designed for children 3 and younger for small parts.
The same mouthing talk applies to older children, who, like younger ones, need to be reminded not to put toys in their mouths. In these instances, the darts are small, soft and flexible. Some kids simply find it satisfying to chew on the toys. Some likely do so without much thought.
These squishy toys with suction cups are just the right size to fully lodge in the throat, blocking it up like a drain plug. Once one of these darts gets stuck in the throat, it is extremely difficult for a doctor to remove.
Bottom line: Tell your elementary school-aged children not to mouth or chew on darts that fit fully into their mouths. The darts can stick in their throats, blocking their breathing.
This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2010/05/tell-your-kids-do-not-chew-on-toy-darts/
By CPSC Blogger on May 12, 2010
| Push Around Buggy |
Whisper Ride Buggy |
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If you’ve got a Step2 push toy, now’s a good time to pay attention. First, take a look at your Push Around and Whisper Ride Buggies.
Does your buggy have a yellow knob on the pin that attaches the handle? If so, this recall applies to you. If not, this recall does not apply to you.
Here’s what happens with the yellow-knobbed buggies. The yellow-knobbed pin attaching the handle of the buggy can loosen, causing the handle to detach from the buggy.
If the handle detaches, a parent can lose control of the buggy.
If you own this toy, stop using it until you install Step2’s free repair kit. To get the kit, contact Step2 toll-free at (866) 860-1887 between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s website at www.step2.com.
This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2010/05/2-5-million-push-toys-recalled-handle-detaches/
By CPSC Blogger on May 10, 2010
 These 'Best Friends' charm bracelets contain heart lock and key charms with different colored stones. Today, Claire’s Boutiques is recalling children’s metal charm bracelets due to high levels of cadmium.
The “Best Friends” bracelets were sold as a three-bracelet set and have heart lock charms attached to them. The charms contain high levels of cadmium. Cadmium is toxic if ingested by children and can cause adverse health effects.
The bracelets were sold from February 2009 through January 2010 for about $12.
Consumers should immediately take the recalled bracelets away from children and return the heart lock charms or the entire bracelets to any Claire’s for a full refund or replacement product.
This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2010/05/claires-recalls-charm-bracelets-that-have-high-levels-of-cadmium/
By CPSC Blogger on May 7, 2010
Un bebé puede estrangularse en el hueco en forma de “V” que se crea cuando se desprende la parte de arriba de la baranda móvil.
Como parte de su compromiso de asegurar un sueño seguro para los niños más pequeños, la Comisión para la Seguridad de los Productos de Consumo de EE.UU. (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC) advierte una vez más a padres y cuidadores acerca de los peligros mortales que representan las cunas con baranda móvil. En los últimos cinco años, la CPSC ha anunciado 11 retiros del mercado que involucraron más de 7 millones de cunas con baranda móvil debido a los peligros de asfixia y estrangulación ocasionados por las barandas móviles. El personal de la CPSC se encuentra investigando activamente a varios otros fabricantes de cunas para detectar posibles peligros ocasionados por las barandas móviles, como parte de una iniciativa más amplia que está llevando a cabo la agencia a fin de evitar la presencia de cunas inseguras en el mercado y en los hogares. La CPSC continuará tomando medidas enérgicas para eliminar los riesgos y mantendrá al público informado.
La Presidenta de la CPSC, Inez Tenenbaum, ha prometido a padres y cuidadores que este año se dictará una nueva norma federal de carácter obligatorio, con mejoras importantes, para las cunas. Esta norma incluirá, como mínimo, la nueva norma de carácter voluntario que prohíbe las cunas con baranda móvil en el mercado estadounidense. Gracias a esta nueva norma industrial de cumplimiento voluntario, muchos fabricantes ya han dejado de vender cunas con baranda móvil o comenzarán a hacerlo a partir del 1 de junio de 2010.
El personal técnico de la CPSC ha determinado que, en general, las cunas con baranda móvil tienden a tener una menor solidez estructural que las cunas con los cuatro laterales fijos. Las piezas de la baranda móvil son propensas a romperse, deformarse o presentar otros problemas durante su uso normal o previsible. Cuanto más vieja sea la cuna, más problemas pueden esperarse. Cuando las piezas de la baranda móvil se rompen o se deforman, la baranda móvil puede desprenderse de la cuna en una o más esquinas. Si al rodar sobre sí mismo o al moverse un bebé o un niño que ya empieza a andar cae en el hueco formado por la baranda móvil parcialmente desprendida, puede asfixiarse al quedar atrapado o aprisionado entre el colchón de la cuna y la baranda móvil. Los bebés también pueden estrangularse en el hueco en forma de “V” que se crea cuando una baranda móvil se desprende en una de sus esquinas superiores.
Revise su cuna regularmente y asegúrese de que no haya sido retirada del mercado. Si bien el personal de la CPSC no puede decir que todas las cunas con baranda móvil sean peligrosas, la agencia, basándose en la investigación de denuncias que ha recibido, considera que la mayor parte de las cunas con baranda móvil son más propensas en general a tener fallas mecánicas que las cunas de diseño similar con laterales fijos.
Siga leyendo
This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2010/05/la-cpsc-advierte-a-los-padres-acerca-de-las-cunas-con-baranda-movil/
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