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Crib Recall: Should Parents Be Product Testers?
At Safety4Kids we strive to produce "safety tools" to empower parents and "safety entertainment" to communicate safe and healthy habits to young children. But there are hazards around every corner. And many of those hazards result in tragedy. Like the most recent Simplicity crib recall.
We asked our own Dr. Carl Baum for his response to this recent tragedy, and the resulting crib recall. Here are his thoughts.
As for the crib recall, the question always arises, how did this happen? The analysis of any tragic death (or deaths) often reveals a number of missed preventive opportunities. In this case:
I am not sure it is practical to expect parents to test products. Most would not have the engineering background to recognize or correct potential hazards. Even the CPSC does not have the authority to perform pre-market testing of products, and I've read recently read that they have severe staffing shortages.
Of course, as the manufacturer points out, you would not want the recall to encourage parents to institute unsafe practices, such as co-sleeping arrangements which present their own hazard to younger children.
What do you think?
(c) Brian McEntire. Image from BigStockPhoto.com
Related Topics from WebMD:
We asked our own Dr. Carl Baum for his response to this recent tragedy, and the resulting crib recall. Here are his thoughts.
As for the crib recall, the question always arises, how did this happen? The analysis of any tragic death (or deaths) often reveals a number of missed preventive opportunities. In this case:- Poor crib design allows rail to be installed upside down
- Parents install rail upside down, allowing hazardous gap to appear
- Baby suffocates in gap
- Delays in product recall allow more deaths/injuries to occur
- Parents who are not aware of recall continue to use crib
I am not sure it is practical to expect parents to test products. Most would not have the engineering background to recognize or correct potential hazards. Even the CPSC does not have the authority to perform pre-market testing of products, and I've read recently read that they have severe staffing shortages.
Of course, as the manufacturer points out, you would not want the recall to encourage parents to institute unsafe practices, such as co-sleeping arrangements which present their own hazard to younger children.
What do you think?
(c) Brian McEntire. Image from BigStockPhoto.com
Related Topics from WebMD:
