CPSC and Chicago White Sox Encourage Use of Safety Gear

April 23, 2008 - CHICAGO, Ill. - Spring marks the annual kickoff for children's outdoor sports. As snow boots are being stored away and bicycles, inline skates and scooters are brought out, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is teaming up with the Chicago White Sox to urge kids to put on their helmets and safety gear.

CPSC and the Chicago White Sox are reminding parents and caregivers that when it comes to certain outdoor activities, helmets and safety gear are important for kids. That means putting on a helmet when riding a bicycle or when up to bat in baseball, and wearing a helmet, knee and elbow pads for skateboarding.

At a press conference today with the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field, CPSC Acting Chairman Nancy Nord stated, "Wearing a helmet and safety gear is good common sense. It can keep your child on the sports field and out of the emergency room."

CPSC data show that the rate of sports-related injuries is most often highest for kids age 10 to 14. The exception is for children age 5 to 9 who have a higher rate of injuries involving unpowered scooters.

Bicycling topped the list for injuries to children in 2006, with nearly 240,000 emergency room-treated injuries.

Wearing a bicycle helmet while biking, for example, can reduce the risk of head injury by 85 percent, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

CPSC data also showed that there were nearly 221,000 football emergency room-treated injuries, 85,000 baseball injuries, and 65,000 skateboard injuries to children younger than 15 in 2006.

All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) were involved in the most deaths, 149 in 2004, to children under 15. Bicycles were involved in 77 deaths in the same age group. There were four deaths of children involving skateboards.

At the press conference, Chicago White Sox catchers A.J. Pierzynski and Toby Hall handed out free bicycle helmets to students from McClellan Elementary School, a public school on Chicago's south side. The helmets were donated to the students by Bell Sports Inc.

"As a catcher, I always wear all of my safety gear, rain or shine, hot or cold. I encourage kids to do the same whatever their sport. It can save their lives," said Pierzynski.

"It's also important to make sure your safety gear fits right. Make sure there are no loose straps and that your helmet is on correctly so it can protect you," added Hall.

Nord announced that the Chicago White Sox and McClellan Elementary School are joining CPSC's Neighborhood Safety Network (NSN), a network of 5,500 grassroots organizations. CPSC offers free safety information to the public through the NSN, an initiative designed to assist local organizations in providing lifesaving information to underserved members of their communities.

To see this release on CPSC's web site, including the table "Estimated Emergency Department Treated Injuries (2006) and Reported Fatalities (2004) For Youths Under Age 15", please go to:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08252.html

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $800 billion annually. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard. The CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals - contributed significantly to the decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC's hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270, or visit CPSC's web site at www.cpsc.gov/talk.html. To join a CPSC email subscription list, please go to https://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx. Consumers can obtain this release and recall information at CPSC's Web site at www.cpsc.gov.