Treading Lightly
You know it’s almost the New Year when retail stores are banished of festive décor, scrumptious goodies and bright-colored toys and replaced by diet books, hand weights and at-home exercise equipment, ready and available for your health-conscious resolutions.
But before you bring that new treadmill home, you may want to consider a few precautions. While that revolving belt can help you whittle your middle, it can be surprisingly dangerous for children. In fact, the Journal for Pediatric Surgery has called the increasing rate of treadmill injuries a “public health issue.” So make sure that you have the 411 on keeping your children – and those of visiting friends – free of injury as you work on a healthier physique.
When using your treadmill, keep children away. Make sure they have someone watching them in another room, or secure them in a crib or playpen. When not in use, don’t leave that treadmill standing around. Unplug the machine and stow in a closet or locked room. Additionally, removing the safety clip when not in use may prevent the machine from starting up.
If you’re in the market for at-home gym equipment, consider a model that can be easily folded and stowed when not in use. While it may be inconvenient, stowing your machine between uses can be the very thing that prevents child injury.
After all, you’ve shown concern for your own health – now make sure you’re looking after your children’s’ as well.
Child’s Play?
When you think of a personal injury lawsuit, awards for lost wages and out-of-pocket expenses may spring to mind, but what happens when a child is injured and there is no lost income due to unemployment and someone else pays the medical expenses?
The law still protects injured children. An injured child may be entitled to compensation for the pain, suffering, trauma and overall inconvenience and aggravation of an accident.
The amount of this compensation depends heavily on three factors: 1 – the cause of the injury, 2 – the child’s age, and 3 – the severity of the injury.
Children under the age of seven cannot be held legally accountable for their injury. Children between seven and 14 are presumed incapable of contributing to the injury, although this assumption can be overcome in court.
Injuries to children due to the negligence of an adult are serious cases in that childhood injuries can affect the victim for the duration of his or her life – whether that is due to a physical ailment or emotional trauma.
More so than adults, children need advocates. That’s what parents are for. And when the parents need help, that’s what we’re for.
Safe Cycling
It may be a Saturday morning hobby, or your primary method of transportation. Or, you may just find one tied with festive ribbons under the tree this week. However you use your bicycle, the truth of the matter is that you’re in danger of a collision. In fact, experienced cyclists experience a crash of some sort an average of once every 8,000 miles.
The scene of a bicycle collision can be a confusing one for a cyclist. You may not immediately know whether you have sustained any injuries to your bicycle or person. However, it’s safest to assume that you have, according to CommutebyBike.com.
Be prepared for the worst by knowing how to react in a bicycle accident. First, obtain the driver’s information. Regardless of whether either of you are harmed, collect complete and accurate information including the driver’s name, address, phone number, license number, insurance company and policy number, as well as the vehicle license number.
Secondly, call the police. Though the accident may not warrant a report or investigation, cover your bases by getting the police involved immediately. This is especially imperative if you are injured or the driver refuses to give you identification or information.
Thirdly, always seek medical attention. Your injuries may not be readily apparent, so ask for a thorough examination from a doctor.
You may also want to document the accident using photographs and jotting down notes. Snap photos of skid marks or glass or anything else that may provide evidence of the accident. Then, file an insurance claim. Although there are many uninsured motorists on the road, often, if you have automobile insurance, your policy will cover you while you’re cycling.
Looks like you’re ready for that holiday surprise.
Hot Coffee
You don’t have to be a coffee aficionado or a McDonald’s regular to recall the case of Stella Liebeck and her scalding cup of McDonald’s coffee. Now an 18 year-old suit, the case of Liebeck’s coffee made not only national news, but was used as material for comedians, talk-show hosts, and a steady storyline for news reporters.
Well now, that case is back – in the form of an independent film to be premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
The film, which is in documentary form, will explore the case and its ensuing media frenzy, in order to answer tough questions like, “Who profited most from this case?” “Why did a personal injury case like this garner so much media attention?” and
“How was the case used (and/or misused) for propaganda purposes?”
Additionally, director Susan Saladoff follows subjects in need of civil justice who have been unable to access the court system, in contrast to the widely-publicized coffee case.
The film’s title, “Hot Coffee,” is an easy way to remember one of the nation’s most famous (or infamous?) personal injury suit. See it with a lukewarm cup’o joe.
Toys: Unwrapped
While it might be the time of year when surprises are the status quo, one surprise you won’t want this holiday season is a recalled toy. Early shoppers take note: There have been 44 children’s toys recalled so far in 2010, some as recent as this month. So to make sure that one of these toys isn’t wrapped in bright paper lying under your Christmas tree, we’ve provided a few highlights.
The most recently recalled toy, a rocking horse from Rocking Horse Depot, was voluntarily recalled last month in response to a child injury involving near-strangling within the horse’s reigns.
If you’ve bought any bathtub toys by Munchkin in the past year, you’ll want to look them up – several were recalled in October. And Fisher-Price – a big name in children’s toys – has recalled more than 10 million products this year. Among them any infant toys with inflatable balls due to their possible choking hazard, children’s trikes due to their possible injury risk and any 2010 high chair model. Several other toys are included in the recall, so be sure to check with Fisher-Price for a complete list.
Lead, always a risk in toys and other products, has been found youth tiaras manufactured by Wilton, and metal charm bracelets for children sold at Claire’s.
If you chose a toy dart gun as a stocking stuffer, make sure it wasn’t purchased from Family Dollar. Their dart guns have been recalled after two reports of asphyxiation deaths.
Help keep the season merry by reading warning labels and age recommendations on toys before presenting them to a child. And, of course, take a look at this year’s recall list to make sure your presents – and your child’s safety, remain under wraps.
Child-Proof Holiday
While you may not be bringing home a bundle of joy anytime soon, that bundle may very well be coming to you this holiday season, as the time for visiting family and friends ensues. In anticipation, you may want to rethink the safety of your home – it may pose no threat to you or your spouse, but kid-proofing can be a bit more in-depth than making the fine china and crystal goblets unreachable (although you’ll definitely want to do that).
You might be familiar with baby-proofing, but the fact of the matter is, unintentional injury is the leading cause of death in kids 14 and under. What’s more is that more than a third of these injuries happen at home.
So before you receive some pint-sized visitors this season, make sure you’ve combed your home for potential hazards. Here are a few great tips:
- Keep guns locked up and out of reach
- Remove any items that are hot, sharp or choking hazards from a (under 14) child’s reach.
- Install smoke detectors
- Install doorknob covers to rooms that are potentially dangerous to children (i.e. dens, exercise rooms, etc.).
- If you’re making a bed for a child, keep the multiple pillows and soft bedding out of the mix.
- Fold up any exercise treadmills, ellipticals or bikes and stow them out of the way.
Here’s to a safe holiday season.