Canadian consumers are owed a standard of care by the manufacturers, distributors, designers, and retailers of the products they purchase. That is to say, when a person buys a product, they have a right to expect that the product will not cause them harm. When a product fails to meet reasonable safety expectations, the owner may have grounds for a claim under a specific subset of personal injury law: product liability.
Product liability claims can stem from a wide range of products, from automobiles to electronics. For simplicity’s sake, though, let’s look at a particularly common source of product liability claims: children’s products.
Late last year, Loblaw Companies Ltd. recalled a baby’s jacket sold by Joe Fresh which was deemed a choking hazard.
“One instance of a child removing a button and putting it in their mouth has come to our attention,” the company said in a statement. While no injuries were recorded, the event shows just how seriously companies take product liability lawsuits. When the customer base is particularly vulnerable, companies must go to great lengths to ensure that their products are safe.
Each year in the run-up to Christmas, watchdog group W.A.T.C.H. (World Against Toys Causing Harm) releases a list of dangerous toys on the market. The 2015 list included products like dinosaur claws that children wear on their hands, which can cause facial or eye injuries; toys with pull strings which pose a strangulation threat; and a foldable trampoline, which can result in broken limbs. But the most common risk, as illustrated by Joe Fresh’s recall of the children’s jacket, is choking. Choking hazard claims are common enough that they are considered a distinct sub-set of product liability lawsuits.
In an effort to both reduce injury risk and avoid lawsuits, toy manufacturers put their products through a rigorous series of tests and quality checks, some of which Yahoo Finance examined in an article from November 2015. Safety and quality standards are decided based on the materials used in a product and how they are assembled. For instance, the fabrics contained in a toy doll will help to determine the standards around the toy, explained San Francisco-based failure analysis consultant Karen Raymet in the Yahoo article.
“If it is a toy with a wheel and axel that a child rolls along the floor, there’s a whole set of mechanical standards that say pieces can’t fly off – that’s a choking hazard – and it must be measured by dropping it from a prescribed height onto a concrete floor, and if it breaks, no small pieces can be small enough to be ingested,” Rayment explained.
Other standardization factors include where the toy is expected to be sold and what age group it is intended for. Testing is carried out by independent, third-party labs, and can include such procedures as impact tests, tension tests, textile tests, and compression tests.
Regardless of the testing a product is subjected to, though, there is always the potential for accidents and injuries, which is where product liability lawsuits enter the equation. Consumers have the right to expect a safe product when they make their purchase, and may be entitled to compensation if their expectation is not met.
If you or a member of your family has suffered an injury from a dangerous product, contact the product liability lawyers at Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers. They can help you understand your circumstances and assess the potential for a claim.
Greg Neinstein
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