It would take a lot of time to check every manufacturer’s Web site for every appliance in your home to find out whether any of them had been recalled. In addition, it would have to be done on a regular basis, either for the life of the appliance, or for as long as you own it. There’s a better way.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission maintains a Web site that lists all the current household product recalls. By searching the list for the items you own, you can quickly find out whether any of your appliances have been recalled, and how to either have them repaired or return them for a refund.

Unfortunately, sometimes an injury, or even death due to a faulty appliance has already occurred before someone becomes aware of a recall, or before the manufacturer realizes there is a need for a recall. There are reports every day of children harmed by everyday items in the home because parents are unaware of the extraordinary danger. In those instances, a defective product attorney can help the injured party recoup losses, or deal with a manufacturer.

Even when there’s no appliance recall, there are steps you can take to avoid injury while using household appliances:

• Use them solely for their intended purposes.
• Always supervise children when they’re using appliances, and keep them out of children’s reach at all other times.
• If you notice a frayed cord, smoke, or the smell of something burning when the appliance is turned on, immediately unplug it and do not use it until it has been checked by a repair specialist.
• Never leave appliances on when leaving the house or going to bed, not even the dryer. Several fires occur each year due to dryer lint igniting, or the unit overheating if it’s not ventilating properly.

Some of their favorite toys, like the Marshmallow Blaster, Aqua Bomb, Toypedo and the HydraPak all made World Against Toys Causing Harm’s (W.A.T.C.H.) 2009 list of unsafe summertime toys.

W.A.T.C.H. held its annual “Safe Fun in the Sun” conference recently to increase awareness about the every day dangers that our children face in their every day outdoor activities. W.A.T.C.H. is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about life-threatening toys and other children’s products, including children’s furniture, clothing and playground equipment.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has established The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) which has set standards for toys including warning labels, safety standards, lead levels and enforcement.

The packaging for certain toys and games intended for use by children is required to contain a label, or cautionary statement, regarding choking hazards. This section of the new law requires that advertising for these products which provide a direct means of purchase or order of the product must contain an appropriate cautionary statement.

At this point, recalls on toys that might be unsafe for our children are voluntary. Consumers have no way of knowing whether or not a product that they purchase at their local toy store or superstore is safe or not.

According to James Swartz of W.A.T.C.H., a nationally known trial lawyer and child safety consumer advocate,

“We can’t assume that just because an item is on the shelf that it is going to be safe, it’s going to protect our children adequately, because, it very well may not.”

In their annual “Safe Fun in the Sun” brochure, W.A.T.C.H. also recommends watching out for these other summertime hazards:
In-line skates, skateboards, scooters, in-line skate shoes (failure to wear safety gear)
Bicycle hazards (90 percent of deaths occur from not wearing a helmet)
Trampolines (injuries include paralysis, neck injuries and broken bones)
Soccer Goals (unanchored goals have tipped and crushed children)
Windows (safety precautions such window guards can prevent injuries and deaths)
Playgrounds (toxic surfaces, poor ground cover, choking hazards from clothing)
Mini-Hammocks (children have been entrapped in children’s models with no spreader bar)
Water Safety: Swimming Pools, Spa and Hot Tubs (drownings are often silent, there is often no screaming to alert an adult)

Summertime accounts for nearly half of injury-related death in children. So, let’s do what we can to make outdoor activities for our children safer. The first step is education, these types of needless deaths can drop significantly if we (parents, friends, neighbors, caretakers and family) learn about the dangers our children face and take the necessary precautions.

Imagine then, the horror when this life-saving device malfunctions and instead of helping save your life, sends multiple dangerous, life-threatening shocks to your heart and throughout your body. Now your health has been seriously compromised and you face more medical bills due to hospital stays and medications to monitor and repair the damage caused by this malfunctioning medical device.

Imagine that this medical device that was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was known by the manufacturer to have problems. In fact there was a recall issued on this supposedly life saving medical device just weeks before this horrific incident.

This is the really story of Bridget Robb and many others like her. Ms. Robb, a single mother, recently testified before the US House Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health in support on the Medial Device Safety Act (MDSA).

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in Riegal vs. Medtronic that medical devices approved through the Food and Drug Administration are immune from lawsuits filed at the state level. Typically, states laws are stricter in their degree of accountability for the manufacture of medical devices and prescription drugs. What the Supreme Court ruling means for patients’ is, that if you are injured or a loved one suffers a fatality from a defective medical device, the manufacturer can not be held liable for the malfunction of their device.

In the case of Bridget Robb, Medtronic knew of the malfunction problems with the leads in their defibrillators. According to Heart Rhythm, the Official Journal of the Hearth Rhythm Society, Medtronic recalled the lead in their defibrillator in 2007, only after there were 665 failures and five reported deaths.

In addition, the Journal reports that in a study of 3,037 cardioverter-defibrillator leads, 72 (8.5 percent) of 848 Sprint Fidelis leads failed, while only 94 of all 3,037 defibrillator leads studied failed. According to the Journal article, “the cumulative hazard of Sprint Fidelis failure was significantly greater compared to 2,189 other defibrillator leads.”

In a 2008 landmark case, the Supreme Court ruled in Wyeth vs. Levine that drug companies will be held accountable for content on the labels of their prescription drugs. The Medical Device Safety Act (MDSA) would restore this same protection to patients who need medical devices.

We’d all agree, Ms. Robb included, that medical devices save lives. The Medical Device Safety Act would protect patients’ rights by forcing the manufacturers of these medical devices to put consumer protection over profit by holding these manufactures accountable for their defective products.

According to AAJ President Les Weisbrod, the Bush Administration has a long history of diluting regulations that protect American consumers.

“The Bush administration has weakened consumer safety protections and put corporate profits ahead of consumer safety. We have seen it in everything from medical device rules, seatbelt and school bus safety requirements, railroad security, and prescription drug labels,” says Weisbrod.

On December 16, Keith Oberman from MSNBC featured The AAJ story on his Hit List Countdown with an interesting consumer focused look at how preemption can affect our everyday lives. You don’t have to be in a car wreck with defective tires or take an unsafe drug to be effected. What if a train carrying deadly toxins derails near your home? Accidents happen you say, but what if, the train manufacturer knew there were unsafe features that made the train more vulnerable to derailments. Or what if it wasn’t an accident and the train derailed due to negligence of a railroad employee? Do you deserve to have your family’s medical bills paid by the railroad company’s insurance? The Bush Administration doesn’t think so.

It’s interesting how consumer safety is addressed in foreign countries. Typically regulations are much stricter in other countries and oddly enough, there are fewer lawsuits. While the popular belief in the United States is there are too many “frivolous lawsuits”, the truth is, these lawsuits serve as a checks and balance system to keep Corporate America from putting profits before safety.

I had an interesting conversation a few weeks ago with a guy who purchased a brand new home several years ago from a national builder. After about a year, they discovered extensive, long term water damage in the basement that extended to the foundation due to inadequate drainage. The homeowner was pleasantly surprised that the homebuilder was willing to fix the damage so quickly and without question. Interestingly, the homeowner overheard a conversation that that he was obviously not meant to hear, that due to mold claims, the homebuilder found it more expeditious to fix any water problems than risk the possibility of a mold problem. I’d like to believe that this homebuilder would have done the right thing without the specter of a lawsuit hanging over their heads, but sadly, history indicates otherwise.

Federal preemption, it’s a great move for Corporate America, but devastating for consumer protection.

WATCH nominates toys for the worst list based on the potential to cause injuries or even death in children.

WATCH is non-profit dedicated to child safety consumer advocacy. For over thirty years WATCH founder, Edward M. Swartz has monitored potentially dangerous toys and the laws and federal and state agencies that are supposed to protect our children from these dangerous toys. Through education of children, their parents and the toy industry along with extensive national media coverage, WATCH has been responsible many toy and product recalls and design changes.

As he states in Toy That Kill, Swartz believes,

“Children must be educated about the dangers that can exist for themselves, their friends, and relatives, brothers and sisters. They must learn to be concerned citizens and crusaders against things that are harmful to themselves and over which they can exert some control.”

Here’s the Top Ten List for 2008

Animal Alley Purse Pet
Ninja Battle Gear – Michelangelo
Walk’n Sounds Digger the Dog
Pucci Puppies – My Own Puppy House Golden Retriever
Meadow Mystery Play-A-Sound Book with Cuddly Pooh
Inflatable Giga Ball
Spider-Man Adjustable Toy Skates
Sportsman Shotgun
Extreme Spiral Copters

http://www.toysafety.org/toy10.html

Let’s make the 2008 gift giving season a safe one for our children. Let’s start by educating ourselves about what features pose a threat to our children’s safety by taking a look at WATCH’s “Toy Hazards to Watch Out For.”

Happy Safe Holidays!

What luxury! It’s a freezing cold day, you get in your car, flip on the heated seat switch and before you know it you’re toasty warm. I’ve accidentally turned on the heater during the summer while wearing shorts and a tee shirt and I can tell you that seat got uncomfortably warm pretty quickly. Fortunately, I was able to turn the seat off before it got too hot. My seat wasn’t malfunctioning, but if it did it would be an easy fix. Just turn it off. Certain things that we take for granted and seem so obvious—the seat gets too hot; you turn it off, are not so obvious to others. What if you suffer from paralysis or have a condition that includes a sensory deficit?

There have been an increasing number of people with paralysis and sensory deficits that have suffered serious and even life threatening burns from cars seats that have overheated. Again, common sense says turn off the heater when you feel it get too hot or don’t turn it on in the first place. But, what if you didn’t know the heater was turned on and you couldn’t feel the burn? And most importantly, why did the heater malfunction in the first place?

How would you feel if after receiving a severe and possibly life threatening burn, that it could have been prevented? The National Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) received complaints as early as 2001 that 1999 Chrysler Town and Country minivans’ heated seats were catching fire. The investigation was closed when Chrysler claimed the seat material was fire proof, “holes were the size of a pencil or less” and “No consumers required medical treatment.” Hmm—I’m no rocket scientist, but if something is hot enough to burn a hole in the upholstery, that’s a problem whether or not there are any reported injuries! Other complaints have been filed involving Ford, Jeep, Mercedes Benz and Volvo vehicles.

Here’s another case of Corporate America refusing to take responsibility and to properly correct a defect that has a potential to harm the public until someone files a lawsuit. And people complain about frivolous lawsuits that are filed. Third degree burns don’t seem so frivolous to me. So, pass it on—heated car seats can be hazardous to your health.

From 1985 to 2004, at least 33 children ages 14 and under died as a result of pool and spa entrapment, and nearly 100 children were seriously injured. But according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Safe Kids Worldwide, the number of entrapment deaths could be much higher than reported. Because entrapment is generally a little-known risk for drowning, it is possible that many drowning deaths have not been classified as entrapment.

The suction from a pool drain can be so powerful that it can hold an adult under water, but most entrapment incidents involve children. CPSC recommends a professional inspection of your pool or spa for entrapment hazards. This inspection should check that appropriate drain covers are in place, and that missing or broken drain covers are replaced, as they are a major cause of entrapment incidents. Pool and spa owners are advised to install a Safety Vacuum Release System or SVRS, which detects when a drain is blocked and automatically shuts off the pool pump or interrupts the water circulation to prevent an entrapment. The CPSC publications “Guidelines for Entrapment Hazards: Making Pools and Spas Safer” and “Swimming Pool Safety Alert” contain more information.

Abigail’s parents, Scott and Katey Taylor, lobbied for tougher regulations to help prevent injuries like Abigail’s and on December 19, 2007, the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, became a law. This act is named after the daughter of Nancy Baker and the granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker who died in a tragically in June 2002 after the suction from a spa drain trapped her under the water.

The focus of this new is making pools and spas safer, securing the area around the pool or spa, and educating consumers and industry on pool safety in order to reduce the 260 yearly pool and spa drownings involving children younger than 5 and suction entrapment deaths and injuries. By December 19, 2008, swimming pool and spa drain covers sold in the U.S. are required to meet specific requirements. Public swimming pools, wading pools, spas and hot tubs must meet requirements for installation of compliant drain covers and in certain circumstances, mandatory installation of additional devices or systems designed to prevent suction entrapment.

This problem has been ongoing since 1985 and it wasn’t until 2008 that a law was enacted to protect our children. This seems to be another perfect example of how Corporate America won’t voluntarily make changes to ensure the safety of the public until it hurts them in the pocketbook or they are forced to comply by law. Either way, it’s too late for the families of Abigail Taylor and Virginia Graeme Baker.