A North Side toddler who died when a playpen collapsed on him this week was the second child killed by that model crib since its recall as dangerous in 1993, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.
The playpen that suffocated 17-month-old Daniel Keysar on Tuesday was one of two Playskool Travel-Lite models recalled. Officials inspected the crib Thursday, but did not release findings.
Daniel was under the care of Sweet Tots day-care, in a Lincoln Park apartment building.
He was the fifth child to die as a result of the faulty Playskool cribs since 1990, said commission spokesman Russ Rader. Portable cribs from several manufacturers have been responsible for the deaths of at least 12 children since 1990, he said.
“It points out once again the importance of parents and caregivers checking the products they’re using with their children and making sure they’re not using a recalled product,” Rader said.
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Daniel’s death, though, highlights the difficulties of getting out information about recalls. Even some day-care professionals in Chicago said they never had heard of the safety concerns about the Playskool cribs, while others said they don’t use playpens as a matter of policy.
Neither the owner of Sweet Tots nor the boy’s parents were available to comment Thursday.
Nearly 12,000 Playskool Travel-Lite portable cribs were voluntarily recalled five years ago by Chicago-based Kolcraft Enterprises Inc. in cooperation with the product-safety commission. The cribs were models 77101 and 77103, sold nationally between 1990 and 1992.
It will take a couple days to determine just how many of the defective playpens are still in use, Kolcraft President Thomas Koltum said Thursday, citing an antiquated computer system.
“This is a terrible tragedy that we had hoped to prevent when we initiated a voluntary recall in 1993 to remove the Playskool Travel-Lite play yard from the market,” he said. “We continue to work closely with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to remind consumers of the potential dangers of the Playskool Travel-Lite.”
Children can become entrapped and suffocate in the cribs if one of the top rails accidentally folds up during use, commission officials say. To avoid further problems, a new safety standard devised for portable cribs requires that the top rails automatically lock into place when the playpen is set up.
But making parents aware of products that are hazardous to children represents a greater challenge than simply pulling the dangerous items off store shelves, safety advocates say.
In a typical recall, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the company put out a joint news release and leave it up to the media to get the word out. Sometimes the manufacturer also will mail notices to customers who returned warranty cards and will put up posters in stores.
Koltum said Kolcraft did exactly that, drawing national media attention at the time. The company also offered refunds.
In addition, the commission for the past two years has put out a “recall roundup” of unsafe products still in circulation. The most recent list, issued in April, included certain types of playpens, bunk beds, halogen torchiers, hair dryers and lawn darts.
But not everybody is getting the message. Calls to a half a dozen day-care centers Thursday revealed that none of the child-care professionals working was aware of any problem with the Playskool playpen.
Many say they avoid playpens in general.
“As a mother, I’m against playpens,” said Regina Robertz, director of A Step Ahead Learning Center in the 4200 block of North Broadway. “I felt they were unsafe anyway. I always felt the child was better off on a blanket on the floor.”
A Step Ahead cares for children no younger than 2 years old, so workers do not use playpens. But, Robertz added, “I wouldn’t use them if we did (have toddlers).”
At the Ravenswood Head Start’s Christopher House, which provides infant care at other sites in Chicago, director Kirsten Riggert said playpens are not used by any of the social service agency’s child-care programs.
“Quality early-childhood programs, especially accredited programs, feel that children need to be interacting with adults and caregivers–whether it be on the floor or holding the children,” she said.
But Riggert added that she did not think information about recalls of child equipment was disseminated broadly enough. Parents must hunt down lists of recalls in some specialty magazines such as Parent, she said.
“There’s really no way for people to ascertain that information other than in child or parents magazines,” she said.