The Importance of Toy Safety - Product Liability Lawyer

By Matthew WIllens  Apr. 29, 2016 10:20a

40% rise recorded in toy related injuries: Chicago kids not safe!

The latest edition of Clinical Paediatrics has recorded an alarming 40% rise in toy related injuries among children since 1990. Statistics revealed that over 3 million children were treated in hospital emergency rooms, which roughly translates to one child injured by a toy every three minutes.

What is more worrying is that more than half of these children fall under the age of six. Moreover, this is a low estimate, considering this data is only from hospital records, not accounting those untreated, or treated in the urgent care. Our Chicago personal injury attorneys will discuss more about toy related injuries in this post.

Types of Injury and Age

There is a clear relation between the type of injury and the age of the child. For example, infants and toddlers are most susceptible to choking hazards caused by small toy parts. Older children are at more risk with riding toys like tricycles, scooters, wagons, etc.

Nearly 40 % injuries among children aged 5 to 11 years are caused by riding toys. This sharp increase in injuries among children can be attributed to the introduction and popularity of scooters in the year 2000, with one child getting injured every 11 minutes in the US.

Meanwhile, considering all ages, falls and collisions topped the lists for the most common cause of serious injury,

Who is to blame?

Most often toy related injuries are associated with defective toys and their effects that can be attributed to manufacturing problems and faulty toy designs. However, it is common knowledge that children do not always follow all directions. This fact needs to be considered by toy manufacturers.

What also needs to be highlighted is that not all toy injuries are a result of flawed toy design or manufacturing defects. This fact, parents need to consider in the wake of an accident.

2015 dangerous toys list

WATCH (World Against Toys Causing Harm, Inc.), a Boston-based watchdog group, has released its dangerous toys list for the year 2015. Small parts, strings, projectiles, toxic substances, rigid materials, and inaccurate warnings and labels are some of the common reason a toy is determined dangerous.

2015’s ‘worst toys’ list -

Toy	Manufacturing Company	Potential Reason for Danger
“Bud” Skipit’s Wheely Cute Pull Along - $29.99	by Bunnies By The Bay	Choking injuries
Foam dart gun - $13.99.	GD Jiefeng Toys	Realistic toy weapon
Stats’ 38″ quick-folding trampoline - $49.99	Toys R Us	Head, neck and other injuries
Poo-Dough - $4.99	Skyrocket Toys	Wheat content. Potential for allergy-related injuries.
Splat X Smack Shot - $10	Imperial Toy	Eye injuries
Kick Flipper - $19.99	Playsmart	Head and other bodily injuries
Leonardo’s Electronic Stealth Sword - $24.99	Playmates International Company	Blunt force injuries
Pull Along Zebra - $20.99	Early Learning Centre	Strangulation and entanglement injuries
Jurassic World Velociraptor claw- $19.99s	by Hasbro	Eye and facial injuries
Kid Connection doctor play set - $4.97	Wal-Mart Stores Inc.	Ingestion and choking injuries

If your child has been injured by a dangerous toy, you must consult a Chicago personal injury lawyer, who can protect your rights and help get rightful compensation.