Thu, Mar 6, 2014 (HealthDay News) — The recent suffocation deaths of two children in Massachusetts have prompted federal officials to remind people about the potential dangers of storage, cedar, hope and toy chests.
The brother and sister died in January after they were trapped inside a 75-year-old Lane cedar chest that was recalled in the mid-1990s, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said.
Since 1996, a total of 34 children younger than 18 have died in incidents involving chests. The lids on many chests can automatically latch shut and trap children inside them, or lid supports on chest lids can fail and falling lids can trap children by the head or neck and cause strangulation.
Many homes have older chests that were passed down as family heirlooms or bought used.
The CPSC is working with sellers of used furniture to ensure that store managers and staff do not accept or sell chests that have been recalled or pose a threat to children. The agency also urged people not to buy or sell any recalled chest that has not been repaired.
About 27 companies have taken action to correct more than 14 million storage and toy chests that posed a suffocation, strangulation or injury risk, the CPSC said.
If you have a chest with an automatic latch/lock, disable or remove it. If a chest's lid support does not keep the lid open in every position, replace it with a spring-loaded lid support that keeps the lid open in any position. All toy chest should have ventilation holes that are not blocked by the floor or a wall, the CPSC said.