Toy Safety For Holiday Shoppers
When you purchase toys for your children, the last thing on your mind is seeing your child get seriously hurt playing with it. A defective product can pose immense danger and even cause life-threatening injuries.
According to the latest report on Toy-Related Deaths and Injuries by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), there were at least 252,000 toy-related injuries and 11 deaths last year. More than 40 percent were considered lacerations, abrasions and contusions while 44 percent involved a head or face injury.
The toys which correlated with fatalities of children younger than 12 in 2014 include:
- Balloon/balloon strings
- Non-motorized riding toys
- Non-motorized scooters
- Tricycles
- Water guns
The CPSC reports 25 toy-related recalls occurred so far in 2015. Toy safety advocates at World Against Toys Causing Harm, Inc. (WATCH), comprised a list of the top 10 most dangerous toys for this year.
The WATCH list includes the following toys:
- Children’s trampoline
- A realistic-looking toy gun
- A stuffed toy dog on wheels (the wheels are considered a choking hazard)
- A pull-along toy marketed to one-year-olds (the string posed as a strangulation hazard)
- A toy doctor kit with small pieces
- A toy sword with a sharp blade
- Toy dinosaur claws which are sharp, packaged without warning of possible eye and facial injuries, marketed to children four years of age.
The Birmingham product liability attorneys at Fischer & Associates, LLC recommend parents to purchase only age-appropriate toys (but take extra precaution when inspecting toys which can be a choking hazard), purchase helmets and protective gear if skateboards are gifts, and keep magnetic toys out of the reach of small children. Even though toy-related injuries are a year-round matter, many hazards may be avoided if parents can identify today which are clearly dangerous.
Contact our firm today by calling (866) 262-2232.