Child Injury Lawyer Blog
By David A. Wolf
Child Injury Lawyer Blog
One of the safest place for children should be the home. As parents, we work tirelessly to provide for a clean and safe living environment for our children. Other safe places for children should include schools, day care centers, child care centers, and summer camps. Unfortunately for some children who are in some supposedly safe environments, serious injuries take place. When a company manufacturers, distributes, and / or sells a household product, piece of furniture, or safety gate, the consumer should be able to justifiably rely on the quality of the product and the intended use and function of the product. A recent recall of safety or child gates by IKEA is a prime example of a product that allegedly failed which, int turn, caused personal injuries to unsuspecting children. The safety gate had a latch that apparently disengaged which, in turn, allowed the gate to open. The safety gate was used in many homes to block off an area leading to or from stairs in a home. Stairs can be extremely dangerous to infants, toddlers, and small children. It should be noted that a products liability case like other types of personal injury cases involves four essential elements as follows:
How old should a child be for placement in a front facing car seat? How long should a child be kept in a rear facing car seat? These are excellent questions. Research and study of children in automobile accidents over the years has led pediatricians to issue the recommendation that children ride in rear facing seats until the age of 2. This recommendation came from the American Academy of Pediatrics. It was reported that children under the age of 2 have a decreased probability of injury if they are placed in a rear facing seat. Unfortunately, car accidents are the primary or leading cause of death of children over the age of four. It is estimated that approximately 1500 children under the age of 16 die in automobile accidents every year in the United States.
In Massachusetts, child safety advocates are trying to get tougher or more restrictive All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) legislation put in place. Currently, Massachusetts laws allows a child 10 years of age and older to ride on an ATV with adult supervision. Proposed legislation would raise the age in Massachusetts to 14 and older. Katie Kearney is a mother and a proponent of such legislation. Her son died following an ATV accident in 2006 after he suffered serious traumatic brain injuries. He was riding the ATV at a friend’s house.
Toys can provide a child with hours of fun play time. Toys can also present a choking or health hazard for children. Fisher Price is a major toy manufacturer and distributed. “Little People” has been a big success for the toy company for many years. Health Canada is advising parents to go through toy rooms and boxes to see if any pre-1991 “Little People” are located. The toys pre-1991 were and are small enough to create a serious choking hazard for small children. An article posted at 
A startling statistic is that death rates are twice as high in homes without working fire alarms. SAFE Kids USA reports that over one hundred thousand kids are hurt every year in the US in fire and burn incidents. These incidents are also the the third leading cause of death for children under fourteen years old. In sixty six percent of the cases where a child was injured or died from a residential fire, the fire alarms either weren’t working or were simply never installed. Remarkably, statistics show that a working fire alarm reduces your chances of dying in a fire by fifty percent.
The Utah Highway Patrol reported recently that a three year old child was sent to the hospital in critical condition after she was ejected from an SUV in a rollover crash. According to officers at the scene, all other passengers in the car were wearing seatbelts, and were not thrown from the car; the child in a booster seat prior to the rollover accident.