Any person, facility or business that has been entrusted with the child’s care and safety may be found responsible for not taking measures to prevent child accidents. If your child suffered a fatality or injury because of a careless or negligent caregiver then you may be able to seek compensation for the injuries that could have easily been avoided if proper care and attention had been exercised.

Tap Water Scald Injury

Tap water scald burns account for roughly 25% of all childhood scald burns that require hospitalization. Preschool children and toddlers sustain the majority of these burns. Almost 50% of these injuries occur when the child is unsupervised or a peer mistakenly turns on the tap water. In 80% of these cases the bathwater temperature exceeded 130°F. Exposure to water with this temperature for 30 seconds can produce full thickness burns. In some cases the household water heater was defective or set at too high a temperature.

Children are more at risk for tap water scalds because:

  • Their skin is tender, thinner and more sensitive than an adult’s skin.
  • Young children cannot react and move away from hot as fast as adults.

Bath Seat Injury

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission 69 babies drowned to death from 1983 to 2000 while using bath seats. The CPSC considered a petition to ban the seats on the basis that “Baby bath seats present an unreasonable risk of injury and death to children.” Every year 8 babies die due to bath seat related drownings.

Poisoning

In 1970 Congress enacted the Poison Prevention packaging Act requiring manufacturers of medications, drugs and hazardous and toxic household products and chemicals to package their products in child-resistant packaging. After this law was passed poisoning deaths of children 5 years of age and under decreased from 200 every year to approximately 30.

Day Care, Nurseries, Pre-School and Child Care Centers Bathroom Rules

Day care staffers must accompany children to the bathroom whenever toilet facilities used by the children are also available to the public. When toilet facilities are used exclusively by the day care program and are not available to the public, an individual child of the appropriate age may, with permission from the staffer, go to the bathroom independently. Staffers may only allow one child at a time to use the bathroom independently. The following are also required:

  1. toilets and sinks must be available no more than one floor level away from the approved program space.
  2. When adult toilets and sinks are used, the daycare must provide a safe means to permit access by those children who are able to use them.
  3. In addition to toilets, portable “potty chairs” may be used in a bathroom for children unable to use toilets.
  4. In programs serving children younger than school age, locks on doors to bathrooms must be easily opened from both the inside and outside.
  5. Water temperature in sinks used by children must not exceed 120°F.

Boston Child Accident Claims and Personal Injury Attorneys

If your child was injured in an accident, call our experienced Boston area personal injury and accident claims attorneys to schedule a free no-obligation case review and consultation at (508) 588-0422 and you will have taken your first step to find out how best to obtain civil justice and compensation for your injuries. You can also click here to use our Free Case Evaluation Form.

We offer a free, no-obligation legal consultation to help you understand your rights and the value of your case.

Any person, facility or business that has been entrusted with the child’s care and safety may be found responsible for not taking measures to prevent child accidents. If your child suffered a fatality or injury because of a careless or negligent caregiver then you may be able to seek compensation for the injuries that could have easily been avoided if proper care and attention had been exercised.

Our Boston child injury trial lawyer assist accident victims throughout all of Massachusetts including, but not limited to, those in the following counties, cities and towns: Our personal injury lawyers assist accident victims throughout all of Massachusetts including but not limited to Plymouth County, Brockton, Plymouth, Bridgewater, Marshfield, Hingham, Duxbury, Wareham, Abington, Rockland, Whitman, Hanson, Holbrook, Middleborough; Norfolk County including Quincy, Stoughton, Dedham, Weymouth, Braintree, Avon, Holbrook, Randolph, Canton, Sharon, Brookline, Franklin; Bristol County including New Bedford, Fall River, Taunton, Attleboro, Westport, Dartmouth, Mansfield, Easton, Raynham, Lakeville, Norton; Cape Cod, Hyannis, Falmouth, Barnstable and the Greater Boston area including Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Everett, Lawrence, Lynn, Revere, Dorchester, Roxbury.