Category Archives: Safety Tips

Montagues versus Capulets. Red Sox versus Yankees. Charlie Brown versus Lucy’s football. These rivalries are rooted in history and tradition, and it wouldn’t be wrong to add dogs versus mail carriers to that list. Just in time for Dog Bite Prevention Week, the U.S. Postal Service is shining a spotlight on U.S. cities where mail carriers are most at-risk for getting bitten by one of their four-legged neighborhood foes. See where your city ranks by checking out Postal Service Releases Top Dog Attack City Rankings (from USPS.com).

Every year, dogs bite more than 4.7 million people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Thankfully, the majority of those bites are minor and don’t require any medical attention. And of the more than 4.7 million people who are bitten by dogs each year, about 800,000 seek medical attention, including about 385,000 people who need to visit a hospital emergency room or other urgent care center. (See more Dog Bite Statistics and Trends.)

The USPS is asking pet owners to help prevent future skirmishes that are no laughing matter to the people charged with delivering the nation’s mail. And if keeping postal carriers safe isn’t enough of an incentive, there’s always this “promise”, from Ken Snavely, the acting postmaster of Los Angeles (the city that led the list for 2012): “If our letter carriers deem your loose dog to be a threat, you’ll be asked to pick up your mail at the Post Office until it’s safe to deliver.”

So, there’s that. Plus, you don’t want to end up on the wrong side of a Dog Bite Injury Lawsuit.

Parents who are shopping for the right car booster seat for their kids have better (and safer) options to choose from than ever before, according to testing and new ratings issued by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

When it comes to car booster seat safety, finding the right fit is the name of the game. And after its most recent comprehensive study of 62 booster seat models, IIHS has named a record 31 seats as “Best Bets.” According to the group’s press release on the study, a booster seat qualifies as a “Best Bet” when it “correctly positions a vehicle safety belt on a typical 4 to 8 year-old in almost any car, minivan, or SUV.”

Since a vehicle’s seatbelts are designed for adults, a booster seat is needed to elevate the child into a position where the belt can properly restrain the child in case a car accident happens or a sudden stop is necessary. IIHS advises parents to make sure that the lap belt lies flat across a child’s upper legs, and that the shoulder belt comes down over the middle of the shoulder — not up close to the child’s neck, and not down closer to the upper arm.

Read the IIHS press release on the study, and check out the complete ratings.

The IIHS website has a lot of useful information on child passenger safety, including this Q&A.

The Fourth of July is here, and it’s probably best to leave fireworks to trained professionals, so you can focus on other things — hey, how long has that potato salad been sitting out? But every year more than a few Americans wonder what their state and local laws have to say on the purchase and use of fireworks (from sparklers to M-80s) because nothing says independence quite like flaunting the freedom to suffer third degree burns in your own garage. Luckily, there are a number of reputable websites that sum up each state’s fireworks laws quite nicely. Two of the better state-by-state collections come from the American Pyrotechnics Association and the National Council on Fireworks.

While these resources will give you the do’s and don’ts of buying and using fireworks at the state level, to get the most accurate and up-to-date understanding of fireworks laws where you live, you might want to start by contacting your local law enforcement agency or fire department (at the city, county, or town level). Local laws on fireworks may be stricter than those at the state level, so what’s legal in other parts of your state may actually be against the law where you live.

On the safety side of things, for everything you ever wanted to know about the risks of using fireworks (and let’s face it, a few horror stories can come in handy when you’re trying to educate kids) check out the 2010 Report on Fireworks-Related Deaths and Emergency Department-Treated Injuries, from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The U.S. Fire Administration offers these warnings and tips on fireworks. CPSC also reminds you that fireworks big and small can pose risks and provides this online fireworks safety portal.

New federal safety standards for cribs are in effect as of June 28, 2011. After dozens of high-profile crib recalls and infant injuries linked to defective crib hardware, the new crib safety rules — which include a ban on all drop-side cribs — seek to establish “a new generation of safer cribs” and provide clear guidelines for parents and caregivers.

The new federal crib requirements (detailed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission here) can be broken down into five key provisions:
1. Drop-side cribs can no longer be manufactured, sold, or re-sold in the U.S. (parents and caregivers are instructed to either look into getting an immobilizer for a drop-side crib, or to disassemble and discard any drop-side cribs they own.)
2. Mattress supports must be stronger and more durable
3. Slats must be made of stronger wood to prevent breakage.
4. Crib hardware must be more durable, including incorporation of anti-loosening devices to keep hardware from coming loose and falling off.
5. Safety testing that is more rigorous, to better establish a crib’s durability over time.

If you’re in the market for a new crib, or if you’re wondering whether a crib you already have is in line with the new federal standards, you’ve probably got plenty of questions. Hopefully, CPSC has the answers. Check out The New Crib Standard: Questions and Answers and CPSC’s Crib Information Center for more information.

Portable pools have been capable of turning any ordinary backyard into a summertime paradise for generations. But a new safety study provides a somber reminder that water is water — whether it’s six inches in an inflatable pool or six feet in an in-ground model — so parents, caregivers, and kids need to take heed: “Every five days a child drowns in a portable pool during the summer in the U.S.”

The report, prepared by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, looked at over 200 accidental drowning deaths of children under the age of 12, linked to different kinds of portable pools, from 2001 to 2009.  A press release from the Center quotes the senior author of the study, Dr. Gary A. Smith, on what may be the key disconnect when it comes to understanding the safety risks inherent in even the smallest portable pools: “Because portable pools are generally small, inexpensive and easy to use, parents often do not think about the potential dangers these pools present.” So precautions that have become standard protocol when it comes to larger in-ground pools — like the use of safety fences and gates surrounding the pool — may not even be considered for smaller, portable pools.

Portable pools run the gamut from $100 inflatable models (really more like small ponds) in which the water level doesn’t get more than a few inches deep, to larger and more sturdy pools that can hold thousands of gallons of water. What all portable pools seem to have in common, according to the study, is that under the right (or wrong) circumstances, they can pose the same risk of drowning and submersion injuries as larger in-ground and stationary pools. You can read a free online version of the study, Submersion Events in Portable Above-Ground Pools in the U.S., 2001-2009, from Pediatrics, the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

To learn more, check out this Press Release and Portable Pool Safety Fact Sheet from the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

A new product safety information database has been launched by the federal government, giving consumers a one-stop online portal to report and research hazards in almost every kind of product under the retail sun. The newwww.SaferProducts.gov was launched by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on March 13.

You can use the new SaferProducts.gov database to:

• report any actual injury caused by a consumer product,
• report on safety risks you’ve noticed in certain dangerous products, and
• research the safety record of products you own or are thinking about buying.

So, how does the product safety risk reporting system work? After a consumer submits an online report to SaferProucts.gov — detailing an injury or safety hazard linked to a product — CPSC reviews the report to make sure it contains all required information. Qualifying reports are then sent to the product’s manufacturer, and that company has 10 days to respond to and/or comment on the consumer’s claims about the product’s safety. After those 10 days, the consumer’s report and the manufacturer’s response are posted on the SaferProducts.gov database. (Manufacturers can also register their companies on SaferProducts.gov using the Business Portal.)

You can learn more about the new SaferProducts.gov in this Q&A from CPSC.

New federal guidelines on child passenger safety advise parents to keep their kids in rear-facing car seats for as long as possible, to keep them as safe as possible in a vehicle accident.

The new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration guidelines come on the heels of a recent American Academy of Pediatrics study, which looked at safety data on car accidents involving young children, and concluded that parents should keep kids in rear-facing seats until they’re at least two years old or have clearly outgrown the seat. In short, parents shouldn’t treat their kids’ graduation to a forward-facing seat as an age-based milestone. As the NHTSA puts it, “there is no need to hurry to transition a child to the next restraint type.”

You can read the press statement and new age-based child passenger safety guidelines on the NHTSA’s website, but here’s an outline for parents and caregivers to follow:

• Birth to 12 Months: Always keep your child in a rear-facing car seat.
• 1 Year to 3 Years: Keep your child in a rear-facing seat for as long as possible. New studies show that a rear-facing seat is the best option for keeping your child safe in a car accident.
• 4 Years to 7 Years: Your child should be kept in a forward-facing car seat equipped with a harness, until they’ve outgrown the seat.
• 8 Years to 12 Years: Use a booster seat until your child is big enough to use a seat belt properly.

The new child safety seat recommendations are largely based on a combination of two factors that are unique to a young child’s physical development: disproportionately large heads, and bones and musculature that may not be up to the task of providing adequate support for the head in an accident.

For more help understanding and complying with child restraint laws, check out and this Child Safety Portal from the NHTSA and this Chart of State-by-State Child Passenger Safety Laws.

Drop-side cribs have been banned under new federal safety regulations announced Wednesday (December 15, 2010) by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Some are calling it the end of an era, given the drop-side crib’s huge and decades-long popularity, but others are calling the ban long overdue. In the last nine years, defective cribs have been blamed for the deaths of at least 32 children, and millions of cribs have been recalled during that time — with many of those recalls involving defects in the drop-side mechanism of different cribs.

The ban applies to the sale, manufacture, and re-selling of any drop-side crib. Service businesses that use or offer cribs (such as day care centers and hotels) will have one year to comply with the ban, by replacing any drop-side cribs with safe and CPSC-approved fixed-side models.

The CPSC recently described the dangers of drop-side cribs this way: “When drop-side hardware breaks or deforms, the drop side can detach in one or more corners from the crib. If an infant or toddler rolls or moves into the space created by a partially detached drop side, the child can become entrapped or wedged between the crib mattress and the drop side and suffocate. Infants can also strangle in the “V” shape formed by a drop side that detaches in an upper corner.”

To learn more about crib safety standards, recent recalls, and how to make sure that your child’s crib is safe, check out Nolo’s recent article Crib Recalls, Safety, and Litigation.

For parents and caregivers who want to ensure that cribs and other baby furniture are up to safety standards — and not subject to any recent recalls — the CPSC has set up a special online Crib Information Center at www.cpsc.gov/info/cribs.

If there’s one thing that’s less exciting to get on Halloween than pennies and raisins, it’s tips on keeping things safe. But October 31 is right around the corner, and for kids there’s the good kind of scared (ghoulish costumes and haunted houses) while parents and homeowners get the bad kind — the dangers posed by certain costumes, questionable candy, dark streets, and unsafe property.

So at the risk of donning a Debbie Downer costume this year, here’s an old pillowcase full of safety tips for trick-or-treaters, parents and caregivers, and homeowners who are getting ready for Halloween.

Costumes: Make sure costumes and accessories are flame-resistant. Avoid really baggy costumes that can pose a tripping hazard. For greater visibility — especially since it gets darker earlier this time of year — use flashlights and apply reflective tape to darker costumes.

Candy and Treats: Parents and caregivers should always inspect their young trick-or-treaters’ haul of candy for evidence of tampering or anything that looks suspicious. One good rule of thumb is to avoid any treats that don’t appear to be factory-wrapped.

For Homeowners: Keep all walkways, stairs, lawns, and driveways well-lit and free of obstacles. Also, make sure any candle-lit jack-o-lanterns and all other open flames are attended at all times and out of reach of young kids. Otherwise you could be starring in your own personal horror film: The Attack of the Premises Liability Lawsuit.

For Pedestrians and Drivers: Trick-or-treaters and other pedestrians should stay on sidewalks and other designated walkways at all times, and only go up to homes that are well-lit or show other signs that trick-or-treaters are welcome. Drivers should use extra caution and drive slowly in any neighborhood where kids might be out trick-or-treating, and be especially vigilant for pedestrians crossing the street outside of the usual crossing areas.

Get more Halloween safety tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Related information from Nolo:

• Accidents on Dangerous and Defective Property
• Slip and Fall Accidents