By David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network
Ten million drop-side cribs have been recalled since 2007 – including 2 million in June alone. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has formed new safety standards that will ban the sale of drop-side cribs and prohibit their use in day cares and hotels hopefully by December 2011.
The CPSC was probably urged to publish the new crib rules two years ahead of the congressional mandate because of cases like Bobby Cirigliano. Bobby was 6-months-old when the side rail of his drop-side crib came loose, trapping Bobby between the mattress and the rail and effectively suffocating him.
Drop-side cribs have movable sides that make it easier to get children in-and-out of the crib and have been around since the 1970s. However, over the decades, the cribs have proved to be dangerous – even deadly. In 2000 alone, at least 32 children died because they were trapped by drop-side cribs.
The larger issue, according to Alan Schoem, a former director of CPSC’s Office of Compliance, is one manufacturer’s must face. It is a manufacturer’s duty to so that reasonably foreseeable use or misuse does not result in injury or death. A duty, that if not followed, is punishable. In fact, under CPSC rules, crib-makers could face civil or even criminal penalties for failing to factor use or misuse into a crib’s design or not reporting incidents to the CPSC. If you would like to read more on this story and see a chart of the units recalled from major suppliers see Dangers of drop-side cribs may be banned by December.