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Re-activateA recall of 1,500 bunk beds this week featured a trifecta of safety hazards—fall, entrapment and strangulation—caused by the beds' lack of sufficient headboards, footboards or guardrails as well as gaps that can trap a child's head. More concerning was the fact that the beds had been on sale for eight years by Gothic Cabinet Craft of Maspeth, N. Y.
The beds violate the 10-year-old mandatory standards for bunk beds issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1999 after it found widespread compliance problems with the ASTM voluntary standard. The CPSC recalls bunk beds almost every year but the design flaws of the Gothic beds seem particularly egregious. (See photo at right and other models on the recall notice.)
An average of 35,790 people younger than 21 are treated for non-fatal injuries related to bunk beds in emergency rooms each year, according to the results of a study released last year by Ohio State University and Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus. According to the CPSC, there were 91 bunk bed fatalities from 1990 to 1999, the year the standards were adopted.
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A recall to remember
We get lots of recall notices each week but some make us sit up and take notice. Or at least we would if we had a place to sit. This recall was for a bench that "can collapse when weight is placed on it." Huh? And what else would you do with a bench? Fortunately, there were only 225 benches in question, sold by Ross Stores of Pleasanton, California.
More recalls
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