Inflatable accidents are up, up and away

If it hadn't been real, the sight of an 11-year-old boy flying  40 feet into the air clinging to an inflatable slide might have seemed like a whimsical scene from the movie "Up." And after a few terrifying moments, it did  have a happy ending; the Ohio boy landed safely thanks to some quick-thinking bystanders.

The unintended balloon flight highlights the dangers of inflatable amusements, which are subject to relatively few safety rules and regulations. Popular at kids' backyard birthday parties, local carnivals and other attractions, the inflatables come in all shapes and sizes with names like moonwalker and bounce house. They're big and bouncy and irresistible to kids.

Unfortunately, the fun can end quickly. Kids pile on top of other kids, breaking bones, chipping teeth or worse, or when the structures deflate unexpectedly, trapping children inside. In the case of the Ohio boy in June, a gust of wind caught the poorly anchored slide and lifted it into air with the child still aboard. As photos from the Middletown Journal show, he was brought to safety when some adults punctured the inflatable and it returned to earth. Other children suffered bumps and scrapes when the ride flipped several times.

In 2007, a 3-year-old died when he was crushed by two adults. Last fall, a young girl died after she broke her neck doing somersaults down an inflatable ride in Festus, MO, according to the Witchita Eagle. And last month, a 17-year-old Texas boy attempted a back flip on an inflatable ride, fell on his neck, and is now partially paralyzed.

Such accidents are on the rise as the popularity of inflatables grows, according to the Web site, Ride Accidents.com, which tracks incidents. The newest numbers from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which were last updated in 2005, are sobering. The CPSC reported four fatalities in inflatable-related accidents from 2002 to 2005. In 2004, the most recent year for which we found complete data, inflatable rides, such as inflatable slides and bouncers, accounted for an estimated 4,900 injuries treated in hospital emergency rooms, according to the agency. That was up sharply from 1997, when the CPSC estimated only 1,300 such injuries -- a whopping 277 percent increase in just eight years (a time in which inflatables grew in popularity).

In 2007, the CPSC issued one of its first recalls of inflatable amusement ride devices in several years: Some 2,600 bounce houses made by Sportcraft (see image above) were recalled after the company received a handful of reports of fans and the surrounding plastic breaking apart during use, causing the inflatables to lose air.

It's up to the states or local municipalities to regulate inflatables. Few have. One of the first states to get tough on inflatables was New Jersey, which requires inspections and mandates that inflatables meet wind-anchorage and combustibility requirements. ASTM International, a voluntary-standards development organization, has developed a standard for inflatables. While ASTM standards don't carry the weight of law, they may be referenced in laws or contracts.

Before letting your child use an inflatable at a carnival or festival, check with the operator to see if it is properly anchored and that users are supervised. If you are renting one for a backyard event, the state of Washington offers these safety tips:

• Limit the number of users on the device;
• Make sure the inflatable isn't overloaded or unstable;
• Securely anchor the inflatable to the ground with pegs;
• Place the blower so it can't accidentally be unplugged, causing the inflatable to collapse.

Some summery traditions can be a dog's pet peeve

Two things you probably like about summer: Fireworks and a long day at the beach. Two things your dog probably hates about summer: Fireworks and a long day at the beach.

Why would dogs like fireworks? They're loud, they smell bad and smart as your Marley (at right ) may be, he just doesn't get the link between the founding of our country and that terrifying boom.

The American Kennel Club (AKC) has lots of tips for keeping your pet safe over the Fourth of July and other holidays. Among them:

• Leave your dog at home when you go to see fireworks. If he's crate trained, you might put him there, where he feels the safest.
• Don't feed your dog from the picnic table or grill. Bones, potato chips and cookies could make him sick.
• No matter how fun the party gets, never give your dog alcohol.
• Remember that, while the beach seems like a treat for you, a hot day on the sand can leave your dog sunburned, dehydrated and sick from drinking salt water. Follow the AKC's guidelines  to keep your pet healthy and happy throughout the summer.

Marley and his friends will thank you.

Do you have a Perfect Flame gas grill? Then read this

Owners of Perfect Flame gas grills should be especially cautious as they fire them up for the July 4th weekend … or at any other time for that matter. What appeared to be a limited fire and burn hazard with some models may be much wider than anyone realized.

Last August, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of one model, the Perfect Flame GAC3615, due to fire and burn hazards. The cooking chamber of those grills can "melt or ignite” according to the recall notice.

But our readers are telling us that’s not the only volatile model. In fact, after our August 13, 2008 blog post "Does the Perfect Flame grill recall go far enough?" suggesting that the recall was too narrow, we received more than 100 responses from readers who own the Perfect Flame SLG2006 and the SLG2007 models. Their grills have also melted or caught on fire.

The number of complaints and severity of the incidents we’ve heard about are very concerning.  We are currently collecting additional information that we hope will be used to address the hazards with these grills. In the meantime, take these precautions before using your Perfect Flame SLG2006 or SLG2007 grill:

• Check the burner tubes for holes or cracks. If you find any, replace the necessary parts before using the grill.
• When cooking, watch the grill at all times. Do not leave it unattended even just to preheat.
• Look for unusual flame patterns. If you notice anything out of the ordinary, shut off the gas and step away from the grill until it cools down.

Some of our readers have reported that when the grill catches on fire the flames can produce bright white light indicative of burning magnesium.  If that happens, be careful—water and carbon dioxide fire extinguishers will not put out a fire containing burning magnesium. Instead, you must either use a Class D dry chemical fire extinguisher or cover the fire with sand.  Better yet, call the fire department.

If you’ve experienced problems with the Perfect Flame or with fires, melting or deformation of any gas grill, please comment on this posting and be sure to report it to us as well as to the CPSC. The CPSC's recall system relies heavily on consumer complaints and without them many problem products wouldn't be recalled. Sharing this information with Consumer Reports can help us accomplish our mission of reducing the number of unsafe products in the marketplace and help protect consumers from serious injury.

Grill safety
No matter what grill you are using, follow this safety advice:

• Replace cracked or brittle propane hoses or gas lines.
• Check hoses for gas leaks by applying a mixture of dishwashing soap and water. Bubbles indicate a leak.  Replace as needed.
• Do not attempt to repair the valve on a gas tank or the grill yourself.  Take the grill to a liquid-propane dealer or qualified appliance-repair service.
• Regularly empty grease pans, trays, or receptacles to minimize fire hazards.
• Never start a charcoal fire with gasoline.
• Never add lighter fluid to a charcoal fire after the fire has started; the flame can follow the stream of fluid to its source.
• Never use an outdoor grill indoors or in a garage, breezeway, carport, porch, or under a surface that can catch fire. Also, keep the grill at least 10 feet away from your house and other structures.

For more on grills, read our gas grill buying guide (with Ratings for subscribers).—Molly Glauberman 

 
 

And the rockets red glare ...

We’ve been mulling over some numbers lately, and they more or less come down to this: More and less.

We’re talking about fireworks. The American Pyrotechnics Association, an industry trade group, tracks injuries relative to sales. While use of fireworks doubled from 1997 to 2007, injuries per 100,000 pounds dropped 40 percent.

That’s good news, of course, but it doesn’t mean much to the 9,800 people who ended up in emergency rooms in 2007 because of fireworks, and it means even less to the 11 people who died.

As we close in on the Fourth of July holiday, when fireworks injuries peak, it’s a good idea to know both the laws for your state (five states ban all consumer fireworks; five more allow only sparklers) )
and the best ways to stay safe around all those incendiary devices.

We wondered whether there’s any way to tell whether one rocket is safer than another. So we called the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory, which tests about 85 percent of consumer fireworks sold in the U.S. (Yes, really tests; they pull samples from cases of product manufactured by their member companies and set them off in a lab in China.)

Products that meet safety standards get a certification sticker. The problem is you’ll never see it, because it goes on the shipping carton, not the retail packaging. So AFSL recommends you make sure that any fireworks you buy are from one of their members.

Recalls risky for tag sale buyers and sellers

A new sense of thrift is on the rise as house prices and bank balances fall. It seems to have prompted people to cash in their unwanted stuff. So it’s no surprise that, anecdotally anyway, there seem to be more garage, tag and stoop sales than ever.

Good for thrifty consumers on both sides of the cash box, you might say. True, but one caution for sellers: The same law that bars manufacturers from peddling a million lead-tainted toys applies to the tag-sale host selling just one. And it’s now illegal to sell any product that has been recalled.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is in charge of enforcing the new safety law, (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act) is offering buyers and sellers some guidance in the form of an illustrated booklet they can download.

Among the items that you cannot sell:

• Toys and other articles  intended  for  use  by  children, or any  furniture,  with  paint  or  other  surface  coatings  containing  lead  over  specified  amounts. 
• Products primarily intended for children age 12 or younger with lead content over a specific amount.
• Certain toys or child-care articles that contain any one of six prohibited chemicals known as phthalates.

The CPSC won’t be patrolling garage sales; a sense of responsibility should keep consumers from knowingly selling an item that could hurt someone, especially a child. So before you slap price stickers on the stash in your basement, check www.recalls.gov.

And if you’re shopping, we caution you not to buy a used crib, particularly one with drop sides or made before 1999. Also steer clear of car seats, play yards and any kids’ clothing with drawstrings.

Girl's injuries a reminder of the dangers of mowing

At age eight, Kenleigh Merritt has undergone that same number of surgeries to repair leg injuries she suffered in a lawn mower accident two years ago. In a frightening instant, Kenleigh slipped and fell underneath a riding mower as the grass at her suburban home was being cut. "It scared me so much," she said later. "My life was frozen fear."

Unfortunately, such accidents occur all too frequently: 77,000 people are rushed to the emergency room each year from accidents involving lawn mowers. At least 10 percent of those are children 18 and under, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Lawn mower injuries include deep cuts, loss of fingers and toes, broken and dislocated bones, burns, and eye and other injuries. Some injuries are very serious. Both users of mowers and those who are nearby can be hurt.

Peter Sawchuck, the mower expert here at Consumer Reports, says the speed at the tip of a mower blade can exceed 200 miles per hour. And as he demonstrates in the video, the mower can discharge pieces as far as 100 feet away—a good reason to keep kids and pets at a distance.

The AAP offers parents these safe mowing tips:

• Use a mower with a safety feature that stops the mower from moving forward when the handle is released.
• Children younger than 16 years should not be allowed to use ride-on mowers. Children younger than 12 years should not use walk-behind mowers.
• Make sure that sturdy shoes (not sandals or sneakers) are worn while mowing.
• Prevent injuries from flying objects, such as stones or toys, by picking them up from the lawn before mowing begins.
• Do not allow children to ride as passengers on riding mowers.

A cautionary tale for harried parents: Check the back seat

It’s not yet the height of summer, but high temperatures have killed two children in the past several days. Not outside temperatures though. The heat and the children were inside closed cars.

Yesterday, newspapers in the Bay Area reported  that a four-month-old boy died when his father forgot to drop him at daycare and instead left him in the car all day while he was at work. Although the outside temperature was only in the 60s, reports say the air in the car would likely have topped 100 degrees.

A day before, a three-year-old in Warwick, RI was found dead in a car parked in front of the family’s house. His mother called the police when he was discovered missing, according to the Providence Journal.  Police believe he climbed into the car on his own.

These are heartbreaking updates to data tracked by the department of Geosciences at San Francisco State University, which lists six hyperthermia deaths of children in vehicles so far in 2009.

And in a sadly timed coincidence,  this week the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released "Not-in-traffic surveillance 2007—Children"  Janette Fennell, of the safety group Kids and Cars, noted the importance of the report, but says "their data seriously under counts the actual number of children who die in this manner." Kids and Cars data, she says, "confirms an average of 37 hyperthermia fatalities per year; not the 27 estimated by the agency.”  

NHTSA also offered some safety tips to prevent hyperthermia including:

• Never leave a child unattended in a vehicle.
• Do not let your children play in an unattended vehicle.
• Never leave infants or children in a parked vehicle, even if the windows are partially open or with the engine running and the air conditioning on.
• Make a habit of looking in the vehicle—front and back—before locking the door and walking away.
• If you are bringing your child to daycare, and normally it's your spouse or partner who brings him, have that person call you to make sure everything went according to plan.
• Ask your childcare provider to call you if your child does not show up for childcare.
• Do things to remind yourself that a child is in the vehicle, such as:

        —Writing yourself a note and putting the note where you will see it when you leave the vehicle;
        —Placing your purse, briefcase or something else you need in the back seat so that you will have to check the back seat when you leave the vehicle; or
        —Keeping an object in the car seat, such as a stuffed toy. When the child is buckled in, place the object where the driver will notice it when he or she is leaving the vehicle.

• Always lock vehicle doors and trunks and keep keys out of children's reach. If a child is missing, check the vehicle first, including the trunk.
• If you see a child alone in a hot vehicle, call the police. If they are in distress due to heat, get them out as quickly as possible. Warning signs may include: red, hot, and moist or dry skin, no sweating, a strong rapid pulse or a slow weak pulse, nausea or acting strangely.

60,000 trampolines recalled because of fall hazard

Skywalker Holdings recalled 60,000 trampolines today because the enclosure can fail, creating a fall hazard. The company has received at least 250 reports of support straps breaking that connect the top of the enclosure to the poles. No injuries have been reported, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The recall includes a 13-foot square trampoline and enclosure combo, which has blue spring pads, a black net enclosure and a jumping mat. “Skywalker Holdings” is printed on a label located under the jumping mat and on the enclosure net. Made in China, the trampolines were sold at specialty stores and major retailers nationwide and online from January 2007 through February 2009 for between $400 and $600.

Owners should immediately stop using the trampolines and contact Skywalker Holdings to obtain a free repair kit at (866) 603-5867 or visit the company’s Web site.

Neither Consumer Reports nor the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend buying trampolines for your kids.  Based on our analysis of CPSC data, more than 105,000 hospital-treated injuries in the U.S. in 2007 were linked to trampolines. Common injuries include broken bones, head injuries, sprains and cuts and bruises.

The American Academy of Pediatrics offers the following guidelines regarding trampolines:

• Trampolines should not be viewed as play equipment for children. Do not keep a trampoline at home, whether indoors or outdoors, for your children to jump on.
• Make sure your child’s school does not have a trampoline on the playground, as this can pose a serious hazard.
• Use of a trampoline is appropriate only under the direct supervision of trained individuals such as physical therapists or athletic trainers. If used under these conditions, only one person should be on the trampoline at a time.
• Children younger than age 6 should never use a trampoline, even in supervised training programs.
• The surface of a trampoline used for supervised training programs should be checked routinely for rust, tears and detachments.
• A safety pad should cover all portions of the steel frame and springs.

Parents who choose to have trampolines should check them thoroughly for wear and tear to make sure they are in good condition, especially if they are stored outside in harsh weather conditions.

Pool chemicals send thousands to ER each year

It turns out that drowning isn’t the only pool hazard. A new government report from the Centers for Disease Control tallies injuries caused by pool chemicals, based on records from hospitals and poison control centers. In 2007 alone, an estimated 4,600 people went to emergency departments and another 9,500 called poison centers after being injured by pool chemicals. Most had inhaled the fumes or gotten the chemicals in their eyes.

Here’s a wonky line from the report: “Although no one data source alone elucidates completely the epidemiology of pool chemical-associated injuries, together they reveal multiple commonalities that suggest these injuries are preventable.”

Translation: Be careful. You can avoid an accident that sends you or someone else to the emergency room by using common sense and taking some precautions. Always follow the directions on the package; wear appropriate protective gear; store chemicals in a dry place; don’t mix chemicals together; and keep kids away when you’re handling any pool supplies.

The CDC has a handy pamphlet on the dangers of pool chemicals that pool owners can print out and keep with their other pool information.

Does your pool meet the new safety rules?

Here in the northeast, temperatures went from the mid 30s at night to the mid 80s during the day within the space of a week. Welcome to our part of the country. The sudden warmth and approaching Memorial Day weekend has everyone thinking “pool.” This year, that means a lot more than usual.

New regulations (the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act) governing pool drains went into effect last December to prevent entrapment from the powerful suction.  Municipalities, clubs, hotels and homeowners who are opening pools for the first time since then may be scrambling to comply.

We’ve heard there’s been some confusion about the new rules, and it’s possible that the pool you swim in is not up to code. We continue to advise that before you dive into the pool at a U.S. hotel, swim club, or apartment complex, confirm with the manager or engineer that the pool meets the new regulations. He or she should be able to tell you specifically that the drain systems conform to the new standards.

And keep in mind that while the new, safer drains reduce the risk of entrapment, drowning is still the second-leading cause of accidental death in children ages one to 14. Each year 300 children younger than age five drown in pools and spas, according to new data released today by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

So take every precaution possible to secure your own pool and keep your family safe. The CPSC has these pool safety tips:

• Employ layers of protection: Barriers, such as a fence with self-closing, self-latching gates, completely surrounding pools prevent unsupervised access.
• Beware of entrapment: Suction drains in pools and spas can cause entrapments involving hair, body parts, clothing and jewelry, which can lead to death and serious injury.  Do not allow children to play in a pool or hot tub/spa with missing or broken drain covers.
• Look in the pool first: Precious time is often wasted looking for missing children anywhere but in the pool. 
• Drowning is silent: Parents may think that if their child falls in the water, they will hear lots of splashing and screaming,  however, children can slip under the water silently. 
• Never leave a child unattended: Designate a “Water Watcher”, someone who can concentrate on kids in the water.