Pre-School and Day Care Liability for Crib, Playpen, and Crib Defects
Day care centers who take responsibility for the safety and care of your child can be liable when they fail to act appropriately. When your child is injured at such facilities it is important to obtain a full incident report to better understand what happened and determine who is at fault.
Day care facilities who provide cribs for infants must meet certain requirements. They are required to meet certain height requirements to avoid injury; the cribs cannot limit staffs ability to observe and monitor the infant and cannot prevent the infant from standing upright. Additionally, there are a number of other requirements with regards to the mattress requirements. If your child has been injured at a day care facility you may be entitled to compensation for your loss. Liability can also be extended if the facility fails to properly arrange or organize the facility.
What Makes a Crib Unsafe: Defective Crib Design and Manufacturing
Child day care centers can be liable when they use defective cribs on the premises. Defective cribs can include full-size or non-full size cribs which cause injury as a result of some type of design or inadequate label defect. Often times such facilities remanufacture retrofit or modify these cribs. When this occurs they are essentially altering the safety mechanisms and engineering of the cribs.
A crib can be considered unsafe or defective when they fail to perform in accordance with their intended purpose. This can include any of the following:
- Corner post exceeding a certain requirement;
- Improper spacing between slats;
- Inadequate mattress support which can be dislodged;
- Cutouts place on end panels;
- Inadequate rail dimensions and or heights;
- Improperly fastened or secured bolts or hardware; or
- Edges, surfaces or points that are sharp, cracked or not smooth
- Sudden infant death;
- Nerve damage;
- Soft tissue damage;
- Head contusions;
- Minor head injuries;
- Traumatic brain injuries;
- Death;
- Broken arm, nose, fingers or leg