Nearly 100,000 kids hurt in stair injuries each year
According to a recent study published in the journal Pediatrics, a child under the age of 5 is treated in a U.S. emergency room for a stair-related injury every six minutes.
The study reportedly found that more than 93,000 children were hurt on stairs every year between 1999 and 2008, with a total of 932,000 injuries to children under the age of 5 during that decade. Researchers believe that a variety of factors are responsible for the high number of injuries, including faulty stairway design and maintenance and lack of parental education.
In the study, researchers found that about 75 percent of children who were hurt on the stairs suffered head and neck injuries. About one-third of the total injuries were to the soft tissue, one-fourth were cuts, and one-fifth were closed-head injuries. The remaining harm was in the form of dislocations, fractures and similar injuries.
In sum, about 3 percent of the children injured on the stairs required hospitalization. The number of stair-related fatalities is unknown. Continue reading
In a place that is supposed to nurture, child drowns in pool
Parents in New York and across the country are naturally concerned with safety issues that relate to their school children. It is always terrible when a school child is injured or dies during some school activity. Great shock and disbelief were the first reactions by students, teachers and parents in East Hartford, Connecticut, to recent news of a student drowning in their high school pool.
Legal responsibility issues for cases like this student drowning are addressed under laws of premises liability. When a child is in an environment where parents assume they are safe, such as a school, parents rightly expect that all reasonable precautions have been taken at that facility to assure child safety. The death of a young person is tragic and unexpected, and grief over that tragedy can affect an entire community. Continue reading
Specific Build-A-Bears may not be so snuggly, declared a hazard
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is a governmental agency that helps to protect the public from the unreasonable risk of injury or death that could result from dangerous products released into the stream of commerce.
The Build-A-Bear experience has become very popular amongst young children who love the brightly lit store filled with sensory stimulating bold colors and soft and snuggly stuffed bears. Children in New York and across the nation especially love the part of the experience where they can design and create their own bear. Some of those bears may not be as comforting as originally thought after a recall of the Colorful Hears Teddy Bears line was announced. Continue reading
New York bus driver fails to report accident while students onboard
A large number of fender benders do not result in injury. When a driver feels fine, it is completely up to them whether they will seek medical attention to determine any injury. When the driver is a school bus driver with passengers on board, there is a duty to make sure that the students are taken care of after even the smallest accident.
New York officials are investigating a school bus driver after he failed to report a bus accident that occurred while 21 students were onboard the vehicle. Not only did the students have to rely on the driver to bring them to school on time, but they also had to rely on the driver to keep them safe. Continue reading