Government And Industry Move To Reduce Infant Bucket Drownings

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Coalition for Container Safety today announced a joint program to address the problem of infant drownings in industrial-size buckets.

In the past five years, more than 100 small children have drowned after falling into large buckets containing water or other liquids, according to the CPSC. Some buckets contained liquid only a few inches deep. The victims most commonly ranged in age from eight to 12 months, although some were as young as four months and some as old as two years. The buckets usually were five-gallon, industrial containers.

Though five-gallon buckets can be purchased new in retail stores for heavy-duty household tasks, they generally are used to transport bulk or commercial quantities of products, including food, paint, cleaning solutions and construction materials. When emptied of their original contents, these shipping containers sometimes find their way into homes.

In the program announced today, the Coalition will provide information to the public on the drownings, including a free brochure and self-adhesive warning labels to be placed on industrial-size containers already in the home. The industry group encourages parents to alert any others who might have occasion to tend their small children, including babysitters, friends and relatives. It also advises parents to call for the free warning sticker, to further spread the word of the danger to other caregivers.

Consumers may obtain the warning sticker and brochure on bucket-related drownings by contacting the Coalition at 800-203-9200.

Some manufacturers and fillers of new buckets, such as Coalition members in the gypsum industry, already are placing warning labels on their five-gallon containers before they can reach the consumer, and the Commission is urging applicable industry segments to follow suit.

In a typical bucket-related drowning, the Commission reports, someone is using a five-gallon bucket containing liquid for a household chore. The bucket is left unattended with a small child nearby. The curious child approaches the bucket, reaches to play in the water or drops a toy or other object in it and then falls in headfirst. Because much of the toddler's weight is distributed in the top portion of his or her body, and industrial-size buckets do not easily tip, the child is not able to work free.

At the time of the incidents, most of the buckets were being used to hold mop water according to CPSC reports. Some, however, contained other liquids such as drinking water for dogs, wall paper stripper with water or water with detergent for soaking clothes.

These fatal accidents apparently can happen even when the buckets are only partially filled, as the 14-inch containers are about half the height of the typical, top-heavy child, with their rims just below the child's upright center of gravity. In addition, once the containers are filled with just a few gallons of liquid, they weigh more than most eight to 12 month-old infants.

The Coalition cautions that although industrial buckets appear to be particularly hazardous, parents and other caregivers are advised never to leave a small child alone with any large container of liquid, and all buckets should be emptied immediately upon completion of household chores. It must be remembered that infants can drown in even small amounts of water, the group warns.

The Coalition is a group of trade associations and their member companies that make or use industrial packaging containers. Because these containers often are reused in the home as buckets, the Coalition is concerned with informing the public about safety precautions that should be taken in con- junction with this packaging product.