Welcome to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Podcast for April 21, 2006.

April is National Gardening Month, and CPSC is wants consumers to remember Safety when working in the Yard and Garden this Spring and Summer.

In 2004, about 67,000 consumers nationwide went to emergency rooms because of injuries relating to push mowers and about 14,600 suffered injuries relating to riding mowers and garden tractors.

Here are some of CPSC’s lawn and garden safety tips so you can avoid being included in this year’s injury statistics:

• Never let a child ride or operate a garden tractor or riding mower, even if the child is supervised.
• Whenever any outdoor power equipment is being used, keep children supervised at all times. Young children move quickly and are attracted to mowers and mowing activity, especially if they have been given rides on mowers before. Never assume children will remain where you last saw them. Use extra care when backing up or when approaching corners, shrubs, and trees.
• Dress appropriately for the task. When mowing, wear long pants and a long-sleeved shirt to avoid injuries from thrown objects like rocks or sticks. Also remember to wear eye and hearing protection.
• Before starting up machinery, remove objects from the area in which you are working that can cause injury or damage equipment, such as sticks, glass, metal, wire, and stones.
• Handle gas carefully. Never fill gasoline tanks while machinery is on or when equipment is still hot. Store gas in an approved container away from the house.
• Finally, never smoke or use any type of flame around gasoline or any gasoline-powered equipment.

For more information, visit CPSC’s Web site at www.cpsc.gov. and search on “Garden Safety.”

In recall news this week, Brookdale International Systems Inc. announced the recall of about 290,000 Emergency Smoke Hoods for a Risk of Carbon Monoxide Inhalation. These smoke hoods are respiratory devices that assist users with breathing while escaping a fire. The EVAC-U8™ and EVAC+™ Emergency Escape Smoke Hoods could fail to work properly, exposing the user to harmful carbon monoxide. They were sold from September 2000 through March 2006. Consumers with these smoke hoods should contact Brookdale at 866-823-4416 for a prorated refund.

Also this week, Hewlett-Packard Company announced the recall of about 4,100 HP and Compaq brand Notebook Computer Batteries sold in the the U.S. (and about 15,700 sold worldwide) due to a fire hazard.

An internal failure can cause the battery to overheat, and melt or char the plastic case, posing a burn and fire hazard.

HP has received 20 reports of batteries overheating, including two in the United States. One minor burn injury has been reported. Eleven cases of minor property damage were reported, including one in the United States.

The recalled lithium ion rechargeable batteries are a subset of those manufactured in early January 2005, and will have a bar code label starting with L3. Consumers should stop using the “L3” coded batteries immediately and contact HP to determine if their battery is included in the recall. If it is, they will receive a free replacement battery. For additional information, call HP at (888) 202-4320.

For additional information on all recalls announced by CPSC, visit our Web site at www.cpsc.gov. Also, visit Recalls.gov to get complete information on recalls announced by CPSC and other government agencies. Until next time, stay safe.

End.