Children's Expandable Enclosures Recalled by six manufacturers

Entrapment, Internal Injury, Strangulation

Children's Expandable Enclosures Recalled by six manufacturers NEWS from CPSC U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Office of Information and Public Affairs Washington, DC 20207 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 15, 1986 Release # 86-30 Children's Expandable Enclosures Recalled Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission today announced that it has accepted a Consent Agreement from the staff and six manufacturers of expandable wooden enclosures for infants and toddlers. In accepting the settlement, the Commission and the six manufacturers also announced a recall program for the enclosures. These enclosures are associated with three deaths, one incident of severe brain damage, and at least eleven incidents involving minor or no injuries. The manufacturers of the enclosures are Memline Corporation (under the name of Nu-Line Industries); WBI, Inc. (formerly . Worldsbest Industries, Inc.); Paris Manufacturing Corporation; North States Industries, Inc.; Mapes Industries, Inc.: and Creative Playthings (Creative Playthings last sold these products in 1974). These firms are participating in an extensive public notice and recall program to warn the public of the potential for head/neck entrapment-strangulation hazards presented by the enclosures, and to remove them from the possession of consumers. The enclosures are constructed of criss-cross wooden slats, riveted together, which expand to form closed circular structures of varying diameters. The Commission estimates that there are approximately 252,000 enclosures presently in the possession of consumers. Children between the ages of ten and twenty-four months can climb upon the enclosures, and may slip, and catch their heads/necks in the vee-shaped openings at the top of the enclosures, or attempt to crawl through and become entrapped in the diamond-shaped openings in the middle of the enclosures. (See drawing attached) The angles of the vee-shaped openings are sufficiently narrow so as to entrap the head/ neck of a child, resulting in potential death by strangulation or in other serious injury. Consumers should immediately stop using the enclosures and return them to Nu-Line Industries, which is handling the recall for all the manufacturers. In return, consumers will receive a $10.00 cash refund or a $15.00 coupon which may be used toward the purchase of any product made by the following firms: Nu-Line Industries: Paris Manfacturing Corporation; and Northstates Industries, Inc. Consumers should call Nu-Line Industries, toll free, at l-800-558-7300, in Wisconsin call 414-842-2141 collect to arrange for free pick up of the enclosures.

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