The government has launched a massive recall of pool and hot tub drain covers at the start of the nation’s summer season. The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the voluntary manufacturer recall May 27, because it said the covers may not have been tested properly and may pose an unreasonable risk of entrapment to young swimmers.

The issue is not so much with the design of the covers – the government mandated design changes to deal with entrapment risk starting in 2008 – but with the laboratories that safety test the covers. The CPSC said the recall of an estimated one million covers is because they may carry an improper flow rating.

As I blogged about recently, the CPSC has been investigating the three labs that test pool and drain covers because of allegations they weren’t following proper testing procedures. The investigation turned up enough evidence to warrant the recall.

Several deaths prompted the government in 2007 to mandate a new design for pool and hot tub drain covers.  The problem was a combination of pressure and design. Pool and hot tub drains can exert up to 500 pounds of vacuum pressure.  If a swimmer or someone in a hot tub, particularly a child, got too close, the pressure could pull them down. If the drain is designed flush with the bottom of the pool, the body could cover the drain in such a way that it exerted even more pressure, in effect, trapping them underwater.

The new drain covers are designed with a raised dome, so that even if someone is pulled against it, water running into the drain from the sides will keep the pressure from becoming strong enough to hold them.

The consumer product safety commissioner says drain entrapment caused dozens of deaths between 1999 and last year. The models subject to this new recall were manufactured by A&A Aquastar, Color Match, Custom Model Products, Rising Dragon, and Waterway.  Pool operators and home owners should contact the maker of the drain cover to see what action if any is needed to make their pool or spa safe.

The Association of Pool and Spa Professionals is operating a 24-hour recall hotline at  866-478-3521, or visit www.APSP.org/draincoverrecall.

By Rick Garcia

What do space heaters sold by Wal-Mart, Char-Broil vertical gas grills and Simplicity TV wall mounts sold through Costco this year all have in common? They were all made in China, bought by unsuspecting Americans and later recalled due to serious safety concerns.  And because the U.S. legal system is lagging the realities of global trade, most of these Chinese manufacturers will face no penalties or sanctions for dumping these defective products on our markets.

This is not a small problem. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than half the consumer products recalled in 2008 in the U.S were made in China.

Poor and elderly Americans on fixed incomes are often the hardest hit. Chinese products are often the cheapest on the shelves and sold through stores that cater to low-end shoppers.

Take one of the most recent examples of a massive recall of a Chinese-made product: three brands of space heaters sold through Wal-Mart. From December 2001 to November 2009, some 2.2 million of these $18 heaters were sold. It’s not hard to assume a lot of them served as substitutes for inadequate heating systems or too-expensive-to-turn on central heat.  Wal-Mart voluntarily recalled the heaters after reports of 21 instances where a defect caused the heaters to overheat, smoke, melt or catch fire, causing serious injury or property damage.

No doubt some of these instances, and many more unreported, will end up in lawsuits against Wal-Mart and other U.S.-based companies. But what about the Chinese manufacturers? Lawsuits are difficult or impossible to pursue against these companies because our laws are not yet set up to reflect foreign product liability issues.

Legislation pending before Congress could change all that. Senate Bill 1606, the Foreign Manufacturer Legal Accountability  Act,  would:

• Make it easier for an injured consumer to serve the foreign manufacturer with notice of pending claims.  (Basically, legally notify the defendant that a court with jurisdiction has received a claim against a company so the company can respond).
• Require that foreign manufacturers or producers of covered products register an agent, located in a state where the company does business, who would be able to accept notice of civil and regulatory claims.
• As part of the registration, the foreign manufacturer or producer also would consent to state and federal jurisdiction for civil and regulatory claims.
• Cover the following products – drugs, devices, cosmetics, biological products, consumer products, chemical substances, and pesticides manufactured or produced outside of the United States.
• Direct the FDA and the Department of Agriculture to jointly study the possibility of requiring foreign food producers to have registered US agents.

This bill is awaiting a vote by the next Congress. Our lawmakers should vote for it for three important reasons:

• U.S. businesses should not be forced to unfairly compete against foreign businesses that can easily skirt the law.
• Chinese companies should face penalties that would, in turn, put pressure on them to put their products through rigorous safety testing, just like U.S. companies are required to do.
• A fundamental right of Americans is to be able to use the U.S. Civil Justice System to hold companies accountable for deaths and injuries as the result of product negligence.

Hopefully this space heater fiasco will turn up the heat on lawmakers to enact this important legislation in 2011

By Rick Garcia

The recall of about 3,700 Toro Z Master ZRT Mowers should remind all of us as summer approaches of the dangers of riding lawn mowers, especially for children.

This particular recall was instituted this month by the Toro Company and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. It is related to a problem with a switch that could accidentally activate the mower after the user leaves the seat. Already, the company said it has received one report of a foot laceration because of the defect.

Riding lawn mowers are dangerous, especially to young children. Every year, 2,000 children under the age of 10 are seriously injured in riding lawn mower accident s — including 15 who are killed, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.  In fact, riding lawn mowers are the   number one cause of amputations  among children in the U.S. each year – and have been for a decade, says the academy..

A big part of the problem is that many models still allow operators to mow in reverse.  Many of the serious accidents occurred when a mower operator, who wasn’t looking behind him and couldn’t hear above the roar of the machine, backed over a small child.   In certain John Deere models, and maybe other models, the button that allows mowing in reverse is located on the front of the machine. This encourages drivers to hold down the button and back up without looking behind them.

The AAP has urged for decades that riding lawnmowers be equipped with “no mowing in reverse” safety devices that cannot be overridden by the operator. Or, that over-ride buttons be placed on the back of the mower so that the operator has to turn all the way around and look behind him while disengaging this child safety feature.

“Pediatric lawnmower injuries, particularly due to riding mowers, are a highly preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. Increased public safety awareness and further manufacturer safety modifications should be strongly encouraged in order to limit this cause of pediatric trauma,” the academy advises.

Although the CPSC studied riding lawn mower hazards in the 1980s and 90s, problems still remain, the academy noted.   “Voluntary safety standards by the industry have addressed some of the safety hazards of lawnmowers, but further standards could help lower the injury rate. Currently, some riding lawnmowers have a ‘no mowing in reverse’ (NMIR) option that disables the mower blades while the machine is backing up. However, this option is not required and is available only on certain models. Furthermore, the option can be disabled, negating the safety benefits of the device. If this option were a mandatory feature that was not able to be disabled the operator, the majority of severe injuries in children would be prevented.”

The Toro recall involves mowers with the optional deluxe set that has a switch built-in that may activate the mower when the operator gets off, the company explained, noting the sudden activation of a blade could hurt whoever might be standing nearby.

It said the mowers were sold at Toro dealers in the U.S. and Canada from September 2005 through January of this year. It said owners can have a modification installed at no charge by a Toro dealer. Consumers can contact Toro at (866) 946-3109.

You’d think an industry that could come up with a seat-activated turn-on switch could design a product that doesn’t kill or main a couple of thousand children every year.  Listen up mower industry.

Virginia Graeme Baker was seven-years-old when she drowned after family members, fighting desperately, were unable to free her from the powerful suction of a hot tub drain.  Today her name lives on in the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act, which requires anti-entrapment drain covers and other safety devices in all pools and hot tubs in the United States.

The act no doubt has saved lives. There were no reported entrapment fatalities for 2009, the latest figure available, but there were eight reports of entrapment incidents in which seven people were injured during 2009.

The safety of drain pool covers is back in the news. In March, the Consumer Product Safety Commission launched an investigation into pool drain cover safety and the laboratories that certify them.  Federal investigators say that laboratories used to test whether pool and spa drains are safe may not be using correct testing protocols, resulting in drains that could create enough suction to entrap limbs or potentially cause children to drown.

The pool and safety act was passed by Congress in December 2007 and went into effect in December 2008. Since then all public pools and spas have been required to install new anti-entrapment drain covers and other secondary devices or systems in order to be compliant with the law. Homeowners with pools may have been notified by their pool service operator and made these changes. Any newly constructed pools or spas since early 2009 should have these new covers.

The result of the agency’s investigation is expected to be announced by Memorial Day, which traditionally kicks off the summer swimming season in the U.S.  One possible remedy would be a recall of all suspect drain covers.

Meanwhile, what should pool owners do? Here’s what the Commission recommends for pool owners:

• Contact your pool service provider to determine what type of drain cover and system you have and when it was installed.
• If it is a non-compliant drain cover (installed before 2009), be aware that it will need to be replaced by a certified cover. Talk to your service provider about your options.
• Keep children away from pool and spa drains.
• Be aware that the risk to swimmers from a non-compliant drain cover is greatest in shallow kiddie pools, wading pools or pools or spas with single main drain systems.

As you take these safety precautions, remember Virginia Baker and have a safe summer.