Personal Injury Law

Government's plan to forbid sale of drop-side cribs will reduce risk of Illinois child injuries

By Kris Briggs

The federal government has taken the long-overdue step of mandating new safety measures for baby cribs and essentially ending the manufacture and sale of drop-side cribs, CNN reported.

Our Illinois child injury lawyers encourage parents to check their baby cribs frequently for dangerous safety hazards. Loose or missing screws or brackets, and split or missing mattress supports, slats or railings are common hazards that can increase the risk of an infant's serious injury or death.

More than 36 infant deaths have been blamed on drop-side cribs in the past several years. The new rules are expected to go into effect next year and will essentially ban the manufacture and sale of drop-side cribs, regardless of whether that particular model has been recalled or identified as posing a safety hazard.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled more than 100 children's products this year, including at least a dozen models of drop-side cribs. Common hazards include falls, suffocation and children who get their heads caught between a mattress and railing. The dangers are blamed on poor construction and design, including faulty hardware, poor wood quality and dangerous gaps created by mattress support failures. The new rules would forbid retailers from selling cribs that do not meet the new safety standards.

Many hotels, motels and child-care facilities would also have to purchase new cribs.

Just last week, Pottery Barn Kids drop-side cribs became the latest recall issued by the federal government. About 82,000 cribs were recalled because of a risk of entrapment, suffocation and fall hazards.

Here is a list of child products the government has recalled.

Here is a list of toys the government has recalled.

Full post as published by Illinois Injury Law Blog on July 24, 2010 (boomark / email).