Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said it is notifying the owners and managers of about 15,000 workplaces that their rate of employee injury is exceedingly high compared to other similar companies. OSHA uses data, known as the DART rate (Days Away, Restrictions and Transfers) to determine which businesses have the highest number of illnesses and injury resulting in days away from work, restricted work activities, or job transfers.

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Earlier this month, the Associated Press exposed yet another disturbing Chinese trade secret when it reported that some manufacturers in China are making children’s jewelry with the highly toxic metal cadmium. Children’s jewelry now joins the growing list of dangerous and sometimes deadly products pouring into the United States from China – a list that includes toys covered with lead paint, pet food and baby formula tainted with melamine, sulfuric drywall that has ruined thousands of homes, and other poorly made or defective merchandise.

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Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the world’s largest retailer, is pulling items of children’s jewelry known or suspected to be manufactured with high levels of toxic cadmium from store shelves. The move follows an Associated Press investigation published earlier this week which found some China-based manufacturers were creating children’s jewelry with varying amounts of cadmium — a heavy medal considered by the federal government to be one of the most toxic substances on earth.

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On the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s priority list of the 275 most toxic substances in the environment, the heavy metal cadmium is ranked seventh. Unfortunately, in an investigative report, the Associated Press found that cadmium is being used in large quantities to make children’s jewelry and other products that are sold in the United States. The country of origin for almost all of these products is China.

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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission approved a new rule this week that establishes guidelines and requirements for mandatory recall notices. While nearly every recall announced by the CPSC is conducted with the voluntary cooperation of the manufacturer (every one of last year’s product recalls was voluntary), forced, mandatory recalls are sometimes necessary when the manufacturer is either unwilling or unable to participate in the voluntary recall effort.

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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced yesterday that RC2 Corp. of Oak Brook, Illinois has agreed to pay a $1.25 million civic penalty for importing toys to the United States that violated the federal lead paint ban. RC2 is the importer and seller of Thomas & Friends ™ Wooden Railway toys.

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The “Packinghouse Workers Bill of Rights,” passed by the Minnesota Legislature in 2007 as part of an effort to improve safety conditions for workers in the meatpacking industry, has failed to make any improvement, according to a report by Workday Minnesota. A recent survey conducted by the University of Minnesota’s Human Rights Program found that working conditions at meatpacking plants throughout the state actually have grown worse since the bill was passed.

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A Minnesota girl is alive –  badly injured but alive — today following a skiing accident last week, thanks to the helmet she was wearing. Six-year-old Julia Griggs from Mahtomedi, Minnesota, was skiing downhill with her father at a recreational park last Thursday when she struck a tree head-on.

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Two studies published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that CT scans may be much more dangerous than previous studies have shown, contributing to at least 29,000 new cases of cancer every year and causing 14,500 cancer-related deaths.

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Toys, children’s furniture, clothing, home appliances, power tools, sports equipment – these are just some of the many products that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalls every year to protect consumers from using potentially dangerous and life-threatening items. But while the CPSC’s safety alerts notify the public of recalls involving new and recently made products, millions of older, defective, once-recalled or banned products find their way into thrift stores every year.

In fact, the CPSC says that 7 out of every 10 thrift stores sell products that pose the risk of injury and death. If hazards abound in second-hand stores, what is the CPSC doing to improve public safety? And what can consumers do to protect themselves?

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