From cars to painkillers, we’ve conducted numerous product defect investigations. This Bulletin shares with its reader several relevant jump off research sites. We concentrate on the Big Three: cars, kids and OTC` and prescription drugs. For:
Vehicle Recalls and Defect:
1. We suggest a first step: check that your client’s car is the vehicle is appears to be. The obvious DMV and owner records aside, a visit to CarFax is a good idea. Bear in mind however that CF is, after all, a private for profit company, not a governmental agency. (Vehicles that have been impounded and resold, for example, may not have the same VIN with which they left the factory. This will not generally show up on a CarFax report.)
3. NTSB. The National Traffic Safety Board is the source for all official aviation, highway, marine and railway accident-related data. It is the agency of jurisdiction for multiple fatality motor vehicle incident investigations.
Children’s Clothing, Furniture, Toy and Other Products
2. Food & Drug Administration. For kids products that contain any form of liquid or food (e.g., soap bubbles, shampoo toys, lickable stickers…).
OTC and Rx. Drugs:
1. FDA. The Food and Drug Administration is the government agency that regulates and supervises the safety of foods, tobacco products, dietary supplements, medication drugs, vaccines, biopharmaceutical product, blood transfusion, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices, veterinary products, and cosmetics. The site displays an informative recently updated jump off page, FDA 101: Product Recalls – From First Alert to Effectiveness Checks. The FDA also regulates the marketing of over the counter and prescription drugs.
Of course it makes sense in any investigation, to review prior and active lawsuits involving same or similar product. JDSupra, Lexis, Pacer and FindLaw are superior sources for this information.
Each year, around this time, we post the pool safety rules and regs. It takes a split second for a child to be serious injured or worse in a pool. Pools are supposed to be fun, let’s keep them safe.
According to data (compiled from various federal agencies and industry monitoring organizations), in a given year, there is one drowning of a child for every 11,000 residential pools in the United States. (In a country with 6 million pools, this means that roughly 550 children under the age of ten drown each year.)
Below please find the full NYDOS amended text version of NYCRR Title 19 re: pool alarms. Feel welcome to contact BNI for our post pool/water-event checklist. There are often many variables involved in pool-related incidents. Our checklist has been developed over more than a decade of conducting these types of investigations.
TITLE 19 (NYCRR)
CHAPTER XXXIII – STATE FIRE PREVENTION & BUILDING CODE COUNCIL
SUBCHAPTER A – UNIFORM FIRE PREVENTION & BUILDING CODE
1221.3. Swimming pool alarms. [amended text 12/14/2006]
(a) Purpose. Paragraph (b) of subdivision (14) of section 378 of the Executive Law, as added by Chapter 450 of the Laws of 2006, requires that the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code (the Uniform Code) provide that any “residential or commercial swimming pool constructed or substantially modified after the effective date of this paragraph (December 14, 2006) shall be equipped with an acceptable pool alarm capable of detecting a child entering the water and of giving an audible alarm.” The Introducer’s Memorandum in Support of Chapter 450 states, in pertinent part, that “drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related deaths in children between the ages of one and fourteen nation wide, and the third leading cause of injury-related deaths of children in New York. . . . Technological advances have produced several different types of pool alarms designed to sound a warning if a child falls into the water. When used in conjunction with access barriers, these alarms provide greater protection against accidental pool drownings.” This section and section 1220.5 of Part 1220 of this Title are intended to implement the provisions of Executive Law section 378(14)(b).
(b) Definitions. The following terms shall, for the purposes of this section and for the purposes of section 1220.5 in Part 1220 of this Title, have the following meanings:
(1) Approved. Approved by the code enforcement official responsible for enforcement and administration of the Uniform Code as complying with and satisfying the purposes of this section and section 1220.5 in Part 1220 of this Title.
(2) Commercial swimming pool. Any swimming pool (as defined in paragraph (4) of this subdivision) that is not a residential swimming pool (as defined in paragraph (3) of this subdivision).
(3) Residential swimming pool. A swimming pool (as defined in paragraph (4) of this subdivision) which is situated on the premises of a detached one- or two-family dwelling; a multiple single-family dwelling (townhouse) not more than three stories in height; a one-family dwelling converted to a bed and breakfast; a community residence for 14 or fewer mentally disabled persons, operated by or subject to licensure by the Office of Mental Health or the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities; a one-or two-family dwelling operated for the purpose of providing care to more than two but not more than eight hospice patients, created pursuant to Article 40 of the Public Health Law, and defined as a hospice residence in §4002 of said Law; a manufactured home; a mobile home; or a factory manufactured dwelling unit.
(4) Swimming pool. Any structure intended for swimming, recreational bathing or wading which contains or which is designed to contain water over 24 inches (610 mm) deep. This includes in-ground, above-ground and on-ground pools; indoor pools; hot tubs; spas; and fixed-in-place wading pools.
(5) Substantial damage. Damage of any origin sustained by a swimming pool whereby the cost of restoring the swimming pool to its before damaged condition would equal or exceed 50 percent of the market value of the swimming pool before the damage occurred.
(6) Substantial modification. Any repair reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, or improvement of a swimming pool, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the swimming pool before the repair, rehabilitation, addition, or improvement is started. If a swimming pool has sustained substantial damage, any repairs are considered to be a substantial modification regardless of the actual repair work performed.
(c) Pool alarms. Each residential swimming pool installed, constructed or substantially modified after December 14, 2006 and each commercial swimming pool installed, constructed or substantially modified after December 14, 2006 shall be equipped with an approved pool alarm which:
(1) is capable of detecting a child entering the water and giving an audible alarm when it detects a child entering the water;
(2) is audible poolside and at another location on the premises where the swimming pool is located;
(3) is installed, used and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions;
(4) is classified by Underwriter’s Laboratory, Inc. (or other approved independent testing laboratory) to reference standard ASTM F2208, entitled “Standard Specification for Pool Alarms,” as adopted in 2002 and editorially corrected in June 2005, published by ASTM International, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, West Conshohocken, PA 19428; and
(5) is not an alarm device which is located on person(s) or which is dependent on device(s) located on person(s) for its proper operation.
(d) Multiple pool alarms. A pool alarm installed pursuant to subdivision (c) of this section must be capable of detecting entry into the water at any point on the surface of the swimming pool. If necessary to provide detection capability at every point on the surface of the swimming pool, more than one pool alarm shall be installed.
That oft-repeated statement hides the factors involved in divorce: age, first marriage v. third marriage, having children v. being childless… Below are the real stats, delivered by divorce.org, behind that quote:
Age at marriage for those who divorce in America
Age
Women
Men
Under 20 years old
27.6%
11.7%
20 to 24 years old
36.6%
38.8%
25 to 29 years old
16.4%
22.3%
30 to 34 years old
8.5%
11.6%
35 to 39 years old
5.1%
6.5%
The divorce ratein America for first marriage, vs second or third marriage
50% percent of first marriages, 67% of second and 74% of third marriages end in divorce, according to Jennifer Baker of the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield, Missouri.”
The divorce ratein America for childless couples and couples with children
According to the Discovery Channel, couples with children have only a negligibly lower rate of divorce than childless couples.
In the latest edition of Time (May 25, 2009), 40% of babies born in 2007 had umarried parents (trendily called CUs, committed unmarrieds), up from 25% in 2002.
The above stat appears only to be continuing upwards, calling into legal question many issues generally presumed in married or divorced familes, (e.g., health care, child custody and property division).
Today’s CUs though, seem to have their legal homes in order, including DNA-testing as part of their family planning.
Overall, our experience has become that we are increasingly requested to conduct background checks on couples planning on cohabiting, sans the governmental rubber stamp, and recommendations for DNA testing centers.
Swab/Buccal (cheek), hair, blood and forensic sample DNA testing are explained in detail on DNA Plus.
BNI Operatives: Street smart: Web savvy.
If you can’t stay together, at least stay safe.
For our subscribers: your personal email Bulletin version contains this tip of the week: how to obtain a disposable, temporary email address.
For the trial law and legal community from a NY private investigator's perspective.
The Beacon Bulletin is the weekly newsletter authored and published by our parent company, Beacon Network Investigations, Inc. (BNI) and will shortly be combined with The MainPower Post, of our new company, MainPower Investigations, Inc., (MPI). (BNI will be involved in the development end of investigative and informational services and products. MPI will carry on with traditional private detective services.)
We're a private investigation company. We DON'T dispense legal advice, respond to anonymous queries or black hat your enemies for you. (Internally, however, points are alloted to our favorite subtly phrased compliments.)
We DO hope to inform. That's our business.
