RSS 2.0 FeedOff Topic Public Service: Parents Please Watch Your Children
by Stephen LittauAs a father of a toddler, when I heard this story on the radio this morning, I was completely heartbroken for this mother:
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Authorities are investigating the death of a 4-year Mission Viejo girl who was killed at home when she climbed into a front-loading washing machine that 15-month-old brother turned on.
Kayley Ishii was taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center about 3 p.m. Monday and died at 8:30 p.m., said Jim Amormino of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Her 15-month-old brother either bumped or pushed the button to start the machine.
Amormino said the machine’s controls were only 20 inches from the floor and the start switch was a simple push button. The girl was in the water-filled, tumbling machine for at least two minutes before her mother found her.
An autopsy Tuesday found Kayley died of blunt force trauma and the death was ruled accidental.
The girl’s mother was home at the time, Amormino said.
I know that some might be quick to blame the mother for the child’s death but remember, the little girl was only in the washing machine for about 2 minutes before her mother found her and 2 minutes was all the time that was needed to take the girl’s life. Anyone who has young children should understand how easy it is to lose track of their whereabouts and activities for such a short time.
So how can such tragedies be prevented in the future? It’s not government regulations such as safety locks*.
The only answer as far as I can tell is for parents to be even more attentive and vigilant than they already are. Tragedies like this will still happen but it’s my hope that others will be prevented due to this story.
*Though it may behoove washing machine manufacturers to research and come up with safety features on their own and see how the market responds. After hearing this story you can bet that I would not buy a washing machine with this design.
On the other hand, there are some pluses for that design, most notably increased energy efficiency. If I was the parent of a small child, this would probably lead me to avoiding that design as well, in the same sense that I’d think more carefully about buying a gun or installing a pool. However, since each of us has our own unique circumstances, I hope that this tragedy won’t lead to a kneejerk rejection of the design.
Comment by Miko — February 5, 2009 @ 1:30 pmStephen,
Thanks for the heads-up… As the father of an 18-month old with a second on the way, I find myself always worrying about “what-ifs”… And I’m known for being one of the least worrisome people in most social circles.
I don’t currently own one of these washers, but if my wife and I buy a house in the next 1-2 years, that may be a consideration — and one that I wouldn’t immediately have thought of.
Comment by Brad Warbiany — February 5, 2009 @ 4:26 pmMiko, I think your spot on. The one size fits all government approach rarely (if ever) works. I think the required trigger locks for firearms, and airbags for cars would be analogous to a requirement for a washing machine. “Safety” features can cause other safety problems. What if a child got inside while the door was open and there was no one around who knew how to unlock the safety lock? In the case of a firearm: how safe is a trigger lock if someone successfully breaks into your home but you misplaced the key? How safe are airbags (now required on the driver and passenger side) if the airbag activates when you have a child under a certain height? How many children had to die before car manufactures offered the option of turning the passenger airbag off or on?
Comment by Stephen Littau — February 5, 2009 @ 5:10 pmBrad, I hadn’t considered the possibility of a child climbing in a front loading washer either. The danger seems so damn obvious now. It’s too bad this child had to die to alert us (and I’m sure millions of others) to this danger.
Comment by Stephen Littau — February 5, 2009 @ 5:11 pmLawsuit pool!
Comment by tfr — February 6, 2009 @ 7:11 amI say within 1 month.
When was the last time any of you did laundry? To turn my machine on you have to pull out a knob not push it in. Pushing it in turns it off. If it was poor design that caused this accident they should be named and deserve to go out of business.
Comment by Norm — February 6, 2009 @ 2:44 pmNorm, unfortunately I do laundry all the damn time. Using a front load washer at the laundry mat, it is a push button to start it. Remember Stephen stated it was a push button start. Alot of these new appliances do not have knobs anymore, and if they do, they are just for setting the water level, or type of cycle. People want sleeker looking designs and knobs get in the way of that.
It sounds like the problem is that it was only 20 inches from the floor. Hell, my daughter was almost 2 feet tall (23 1/4) when she was born. So right out of the gate she would have been able to reach that button (figuratively speaking of course).
Comment by Aimee — February 7, 2009 @ 3:23 pm