2017’s Dangerous Toy Craze Unfolding: Fidget Spinners
>Fidget spinners being investigated by U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
May 26, 2017, click2houston.com
They’re the latest craze, but now fidget spinners are at the center of an investigation by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. An incident involving a 10-year old girl who swallowed a piece of the popular toy in the Houston area helped sparked the investigation. In a statement to a Houston television station the CPSC confirmed it’s looking into fidget spinners because of the local incident and another one in Oregon. The agency urged parents to keep the product away from young children, while warning older children not to put fidget spinners in their mouths.
>Customs seize 110,000 of classroom craze fidget spinners
May 26, 2017, Irish News
Customs officials have impounded tens of thousands of fidget spinners amid fears over their safety. The must-have toy has been in very short supply because of a continuing craze among the country’s school children. While the fidget spinner was originally designed as a a stress relieving aid to help people living with autism or ADHD to concentrate, there has been an explosion in demand. While many of the products on sale in Ireland meet the standards set under the EU Toy Safety Directive, there are fears over inferior products amid the rush of imports
Are you ready for the new California Prop 65 warning requirements?
May 22, 2017, troutmanandsanders.com
Last year, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued new regulations under California Proposition 65 concerning the exposure warnings required for consumer products. While the new regulations will not be fully effective until August 30, 2018, businesses should be readying their new warnings now.
What to do when the government comes calling: A checklist for handling facility inspections
May 22, 2017, JDSupra (Thompson Colburn LLP)
Government inspectors are at the front gate and want to perform an inspection of the facility — right now. What do you do? Thankfully, as a result of careful planning, you reach into your desk drawer, pull out your inspection kit and the checklist described herein — which you are quite familiar with, having already completed the pre-inspection planning — and stroll confidently out to greet your visitors.
Statement of Commissioner Elliot F. Kaye on the vote for the FY 2018 performance budget request to Congress
May 25, 2017, cpsc.gov
On May 16, 2017, the Commission approved a Fiscal Year 2018 Performance Budget Request to Congress of $123 million, an amount $7.5 million less than the amount the Commission requested last year, and $3 million less than what Congress appropriated for FY 2017. Instead of approving the proposed budget, Commissioner Kaye offered an amendment he felt would fund some additional initiatives that would enhance CPSC safety efforts.
U.S. chemical safety board faces death sentence
May 22, 2017, Chemical and Engineering News
President Trump has a plan to kill the investigation panel that could leave industry without a key tool to reduce risk. Trump’s plan to eliminate CSB by defunding it, announced in March, has generated an outpouring of support for the board.Ultimately, the fate of CSB will turn on whether Congress decides to provide funding for it, which for FY 2017 totals $11 million
CSB Report: St. Louis tank in deadly explosion needed emergency repairs
May 26, 2017, Insurance Journal
A giant steam-filled tank weighing nearly 2,000 pounds that exploded at a St. Louis box plant, flew a quarter-mile into the air and smashed into a neighboring building, was being used despite needing emergency repairs according to investigators from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. The horrifying April 3 explosion at Loy-Lange Box Co left four people dead.
Safety News – First Quarter Product Recalls
Q1-2017, cpsc.gov
The CPSC has published a complete list of all product recall press releases issued during the first quarter of 2017.
New report: Fatal drownings in pools involving young children decreases by 17% national wide since 2010
May 23, 2017, Health News Digest
A new report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) shows that the number of reported fatal child drownings in swimming pools involving children younger than 5 has decreased 17 percent nationwide since 2010. Despite the decrease, fatal and non-fatal child drownings in pools and spas continue to pose a public health challenge across the United States, according to CPSC Acting Chairman Ann Marie Buerkle, who urged families to be vigilant when children are in and around the water this summer.
ATVs should never be treated as toys
May 24, 2017, Johnson City Press
Physicians at Vanderbilt University Medical Center say the number of people they have treated this year for injuries from all-terrain vehicle accidents is reaching an all-time high. The Associated Press reported earlier this week that VUMC officials say the Nashville hospital has treated 48 ATV accident victims, including 14 children, since the beginning of the year, and it’s still another month until the start of summer — the peak of the ER trauma season.
Pool Safely and Michael Phelps Foundation announce partnership to help families stay safer in and around pools and spas
May 20, 2017, Marketwatch.com
At a poolside press event in Chicago, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) Pool Safely campaign and the Michael Phelps Foundation announced a new partnership focused on addressing a serious public health crisis: child drownings. “CPSC is excited to collaborate with the greatest swimmer in the history of the sport and his Foundation to help educate millions of Americans and their families about the simple water safety steps that can save lives,” said CPSC Commissioner Joseph Mohorovic, who participated in the event.
