Toys And Playgrounds Might Not Be As Safe As One Would Presume
There could be danger lurking in your own home or backyard. Injuries to children can occur anywhere. They can happen in your house, backyard, school, day care facility, or even in a public park. While it is seemingly impossible to keep a child protected all times, it is important for parents and children to become aware of the dangers that lurk in play grounds and toys. The Pennsylvania personal injury and play-ground accident lawyers at the Philadelphia products liability law firm of Reiff and Bily have been researching and handling thousands of personal injury cases since 1979. Our Pennsylvania defective product attorneys have had extensive experience in the area of defective toys (products liability claims) and play-ground or amusement injuries.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that in 2001 approximately 45% of playground-related injuries are severe (fractures, internal injuries, concussions, dislocations, and amputations) and about 75% of nonfatal injuries were related to playground equipment failure, misoperation or malfunction.
Between 1990 and 2000, 147 children ages 14 and younger died from playground-related injuries. 82 of these injuries (56%) died from strangulation and 31 of these injuries (20%) died from falls to the playground surface. Most of these fatalities (70%) occurred on home playgrounds. Public playground climbers resulted in the most common cause of an injury as compared to any other equipment. At home playgrounds, swings were responsible for most injuries.
There are ways to help prevent injuries to your children. It is recommended that you improve adult supervision, that there be constant adult supervision on playgrounds and both parents and children should be educated about age-appropriate equipment. Building playgrounds with better surface materials (such as shredded rubber or woodchips) can help reduce injuries resulting from falls. It is also important that the playground or facility be in working order so as to avoid an instance where improperly maintained equipment causes injury. Also, children should not wear clothing that is too loose which could cause them to become entangled and result in other serious injuries.
Each year in the United States emergency departments are treating more than 200,000 children ages 14 and younger for play-ground related injuries. Two sets of play-ground safety guidelines provide recommendations for creating safe public play-grounds. (The U.S. Consumers Product Safety Commission handle for public safety and The American Society for Testing Materials (f1487 Standard Consumer Safety Performance Specification for Playground Equipment and for public use)). The CPSC handle contains voluntary safety recommendations for playground equipment and serving, as well as recommendations for installation and maintenance of playground equipment. The ASTM standard is a detailed technical document intended for use by manufacturers, designers, engineers, etc. and serves as the technical counterpart to the CPSC handbook. It also provides safety recommendations relating to equipment labeling and the accessibility to play areas and play equipment for children with disabilities. Parents and caregivers should advocate for compliance with CPSC and ASTM guidelines at their local school boards, daycare centers and public parks. They can encourage and foster public and private partnerships to fund the improvement and maintenance of local playgrounds. Believe it or not, injuries due to falls and playground equipment result in a higher proportion of severe injuries than either bicycle or motor vehicle crashes. According to the Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati study of emergency department visits throughout the United States.
At the Pennsylvania personal injury law firm of Reiff and Bily we have been handling personal injury and wrongful deaths claims resulting from playground and amusement park injuries and defects such as:
1) defective playground equipment (monkey bars, broken swings, etc.);
2) inadequate safety measures (lack of proper surfacing, unlocked gates to swimming pool, professional negligence and other safeguards not in place);
3) inadequate supervision of children;
4) defective products (skates, trampolines, scooters, wave runners, jet skis, skateboards);
5) amusement park rides and unsafe public property.
We take your case and your child’s case very seriously and will vigorously pursue any viable claim. Playground accidents and amusement park accidents are fact specific and may require filing a claim within a short period of time.
In addition to the above potential defects that might constitute liability, you should get legal advice for your specific case from a lawyer who has handled these cases. The operator of the playground may be liable for trips, falls, lacerations, abrasions, broken bones and fractures resulting from:
1) rotted wood, broken chains and frayed ropes;
2) missing hardware and missing rungs on ladders;
3) sharp edges or protruding bolts;
4) broken apparatus;
5) railings or steps that do not meet building or applicable codes;
6) gyms where equipment assembled contrary to manufacturers specifications; and
7) hard landing surfaces where local codes require rubber or wood chips.
If you child’s playground accident resulted in head injury, eye injury, broken limb or other serious harm, please call a personal injury and products liability lawyer in Philadelphia at Reiff and Bily or visit them at www.reiffandbily.com to determine if you have grounds for compensation or medical expenses. We offer free case evaluation and will only take attorneys fees if we succeed in securing monetary damages. We have handled thousands of personal injury cases since 1979 and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars from our opponents for physical injuries and emotional damages.
