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 April 26, 2012
Calling all moms, dads and kids of all ages in the Washington, D.C., region. Join us at our ScienSafety! booth at this year’s USA Science and Engineering Festival.
The free festival is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 28, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 29, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW, Washington, D.C.
At our booth (booth #727!), kids will work with CPSC engineers on a hands-on demonstration on toy testing. They’ll learn first-hand how our scientists and engineers determine which ages a toy is appropriate for.
So, bring your kids to meet and play with us. They, and you, will learn how to play it safe.
This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2012/04/live-hands-on-event-product-safety-is-no-accident/
By CPSC Blogger on April 24, 2012
 Does the warm, spring weather have you preparing to set up a portable pool in your yard? No matter what state you live in — even Florida, California, Arizona and Texas, where pool season and drowning risks are year-round — read this blog if you own or are about to buy a portable pool.
Portable pools are affordable, transportable, but can be just as dangerous as any other pool. CPSC has received an average of 35 reports of deaths of children under the age of 5 in portable pools each year. These pools account for 11 percent of all pool drownings for children that age. You can prevent these deaths.
If a portable pool, either large or small, is in your plans or already in your yard, put Pool Safely’s simple steps into play. Whether the pool is a small blow-up pool or a thousands-of-gallons type with rigid sides, portable pools are often left full of water and unsupervised. Just like in-ground pools, portables need barriers and fencing that keep unsupervised children out. Empty and store small portable pools when you are not using them. Cover larger ones.
Here are some general safety tips:
- Fence portable pools and encourage your neighbors to do the same.
- If you can’t fence the pool, use smaller, easier to store portable pools. Then, empty the water ANY time you are not supervising the pool and turn it upside down or store it away.
- NEVER leave a child unsupervised near any pool or spa.
- Cover larger pools and put ladders away when adults are not supervising or using the pool. When you buy the pool cover, ask at the store if it meets the latest standards.
- Install door alarms that will alert you when someone leaves the house and enters the pool or spa area.
- Teach children to swim, float and other life-saving basics. But do NOT consider young children “drown-proof” because they have had swimming lessons.
Simple steps save lives. Find more Pool Safely steps and safety videos at PoolSafely.gov.
This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2012/04/drowning-is-silent-portable-pools/
By CPSC Blogger on April 13, 2012
 Runners start the Frederick County, MD, Crib Crawl 5K on April 7, 2012. This isn’t just any 5K. It’s a 5K for Safe Sleep. And it’s something you can replicate in your own community.
The photo above is from a recent 5K run in Frederick County, Md. The organizers called it the Crib Crawl 5K. Their mission? Raise money to purchase safe cribs for families who can’t afford a crib or bassinet.
Jackie Whalen, of Frederick County Child Protective Services, tells us that about 10 children died in sleep-related fatalities in Frederick County from 2008 through 2011.
“All the children died sleeping with adults in beds or in places that had too much bedding,” Frederick County social services administrative assistant Melissa Myers told the Frederick News Post.
This is a problem nationwide. Of the hundreds of deaths associated with unsafe sleep environments during the past 20 years, many involved pillows and cushions. Nearly half of the infant crib deaths and two-thirds of bassinet deaths reported to CPSC each year are suffocations because of pillows, thick quilts and overcrowding in the baby’s sleeping space.
The Frederick County deaths sparked the child welfare department to embark on a safe sleep education campaign in the county. “I was inspired by our prevention efforts, the passion of our staff members about Safe Sleeping and have always wanted to have a 5K involving child welfare issues,” Jackie Whalen told us.
If you’d like to organize Safe Sleep efforts in your community and need free materials, you can get them from us. Here are some ideas:
This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2012/04/running-for-safe-sleep/
By CPSC Blogger on April 2, 2012
You might know them best from your smart phone or the panel on a new kitchen appliance. They’re on many consumer products with “scratchable” surfaces these days, including on children’s toys and mirrors. Plastic film coverings are intended as packaging. Remove them before you give a toy to a child.
If you don’t remove that film, or don’t even realize it’s on a toy, your child could find it before you do. They could mouth it and gag, or even choke on it.
That’s what reportedly happened to two young children playing in their Fisher-Price Luv U Zoo Jumperoo bouncy seats. The mirror on the toy comes with a plastic film cover on it. A Washington state family told a Seattle TV station that they didn’t realize the plastic was on the toy until their son gagged, couldn’t breathe and eventually coughed it up.
In the middle of the plastic film that arrived on this type of toy examined at CPSC was a separate clear sticker with a big red X. The X sticker can pull off without grabbing the plastic film on the toy mirror. On one side of the plastic film is an arrow that points at the X. Again, a parent can pull the arrow off without pulling off the plastic film.
If you see the film on a mirror or other product without an arrow or “X” to guide you to remove it, you might not even realize that the plastic cover is there. So, take an extra look at your children’s toys. Are there mirrors or scratchable surfaces that seem like they should be shiny but aren’t? If so, look for a thin piece of plastic, remove it and throw it away.
 This piece of plastic on a child's toy is thin and difficult to notice if you've removed the arrow. Remove plastic like this from all items that you give to your young child. Other “grown-up toys” like cellphones, video monitors and even stainless steel appliances, have similar plastic film coverings. In all cases, don’t let the “new toy” distract you from carefully removing and discarding the film if you have a small child in your home.
This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2012/04/plastic-film-covers/
By CPSC Blogger on March 23, 2012
Look closely at the locks you put on your cabinets to keep your children out. Do they look like this?
If so, you should keep reading. The Safety 1st Push ‘N Snap Cabinet Locks are being recalled because young children can open the locks and get access to the cabinets.
Dorel Juvenile Group, the company that imports these locks, has received 200 reports of locks that did not adequately secure cabinets or were damaged. Three children who got into the cabinets swallowed or handled dishwasher detergent, window cleaner or oven cleaner and were observed and released from emergency treatment centers.
You can find detailed information on how to identify the recalled locks here.
Stop relying on these recalled locks to keep children out of cabinets immediately and contact the company at www.djgusa.com or toll-free at (866) 762-3212 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday for a free replacement lock. While you are waiting for a free replacement lock, immediately store dangerous items out of reach of children.
Similar Recalls:
This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2012/03/recall-safety-1st-cabinet-locks/
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