Pram Accidents – Unsafe Prams – New Safety Standards

I have Previously written about the New Safety Standards for Prams, strollers and joggers, which is due to come into force on July 1 2008. This means that it is no longer possible to sell a Pram without a red brake or a wrist safety tether.

In the Fact Sheet published by the ACCC, the ACCC mention a number of categories of who must comply with the new standard. The interesting category of those who must confirm to the New Safety Standard for Prams and Strollers; are Second hand suppliers.

Does this now mean that it is no longer possible to resell your old pram because it does not meet the new standard or does it just apply to second hand dealers who have shop front.

Is ebay a second hand supplier as many items on ebay are second hand / pre loved. If this is the case what is then going to happen to all of these old prams, will the simply become more land fill or resold to some third world country as the latest and greatest like some companies did with all the old rotary dial telephones.

what really was behind the prompting of the new standards.

The change was prompted by a number of incidents, including the deaths of two babies in separate drownings after their prams rolled into the Torrens River in Adelaide, and five cases of prams rolling off train platforms in NSW three years ago. Quoting from the brisbane times article

[In these instances] parents were not vigilant about keeping on the brakes

Tim Wain, the chief executive of the leading industry body, the Infant and Nursery Product Association of Australia, said. We really encourage parents to use all the available safety features, not to overload the pram, to follow manufacturers instructions and especially to use a harness.

As a Parent I am ever vigilant to my children, ensuring that they never ventured too far from us and when the child was in the pram then the brake was firmly applied and/or physically holding onto the pram to prevent it from rolling down a slope. A similar situation would be in a shopping centre when you have a trolley load of groceries and you have just pushed your trolley onto a travelator which is going up to the next level. Despite most travelators having grooves which allow the wheels slot in and having a rubberised support which grips against the travelator we have not insisted that the trolleys have release type brake like the airport trolleys. No.. the shopper uses common sense and stands behind the trolley to prevent it from rolling back down.

Similiarly we need to use common sense when it comes to protecting our children and ensuring they are not put in danger. a Brake should always be used, there is no excuse for not applying the brake to prevent a pram from rolling away.

Likewise you do not turn your back on a child, whether they are in a pram or not, even if your mobile phone rings.. What is more important, that phone call/ txt or your child..

Using a Brake on a pram should be done each and every time the pram is stationary to ensure your child is safe, it would then become a normal part of the process when stationary. I can just visualise the scenario.. oh look there is a red brake there (why not yellow or flouro green) i better apply the red brake to prevent my pram from rolling down this large gradient, phew if it was not red i would not have realised Give me a break.If you were not going to apply the brake before, painting it red will not increase your vigilance about your babies safety..

Similiarly who is going to have a tether strap attached to themselves at all times.. it would become such an inconvenience that most people will not use it, in fact I believe the tether strap will increase the likely hood that the RED brake will not be applied and lead to further pram accidents as Parent will use the strap initially and not apply the brake, then they will realise that having the tether strap is an inconvenience as they cannot walk across to great a friend without un-tethering the strap and re tethering themselves to the strap and in the process of un-tethering they forgot to apply the RED brake on the pram

A responsible parent will never turn their back on a child to talk to a friend or answer a mobile phone, and if you need to bend down to pick up your mobile phone you will not turn your back on your child for several minutes while you talk on the mobile phone NO a responsible parent does not turn away from their child to answer a phone call

It is my understanding that answering a mobile phone wall was behind one of the main incidents Sad and distressing as it may be whenever a child is hurt, lost or dies tragically, we need to keep the perspective that there is no substitute for responsible parenting, and there is nothing more valuable than the life of a child

What is the solution to this problem.. perhaps all pram manufacturers should incorporate a release type brake into the handle of the pram like airport trolleys.(Painted RED of course)

Pram Accidents – Unsafe Prams – New Safety Standards

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