Every year, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) releases a report with updated data on injuries and deaths associated with nursery products. In a change from past reports, CPSC Started last year including only non-incidental injuries, meaning the product was directly involved in the injury or death, whether or not the product was the actual cause of the injury.
The report finds that the amount of emergency department-treated injuries involving nursery products experienced a slight increase from 2015 to 2016. High chairs, cribs/mattresses, strollers/carriages, and infant carriers were associated with 70% of the total estimated injuries. Falls were the leading cause of non-incidental injuries, and the head and face were found to be the body parts most frequently injured. This year is only the second year that CPSC has recorded the data for non-incidental emergency department-treated injuries, so they currently discourage any trend analysis.
Regarding fatalities, the report finds that there were 294 deaths associated with nursery products from 2012-2014, an average of approximately 95 deaths per year. Cribs/mattresses, bassinets/cradles, playpens/play yards, infant carriers, and baby bouncer seats were the products most often associated with deaths and accounted for 86% of the data. These numbers do not vary greatly from the numbers recorded by the CPSC for the three year period of 2011-2013. Some of the causes of death included positional asphyxia, strangulation, and drowning.
These crucial numbers inform KID’s work. The data helps identify emerging, as well as persistent, hazards that affect families. We will continue to push for more and better data to help all injury prevention professionals respond quickly and effectively to consumer needs. In the next few months, watch out for our annual Recall Report, in which we analyze trends in recall data and deaths and injuries associated with recently really children’s products.
Click here to read the full CPSC report.
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