Consumer Product Safety

Press release 2012.08.23 [Prevention of accidents involving care beds etc. at the site of care]

Prevention of accidents involving care beds etc. at the site of care

National Institute of Technology and Evaluation
Product Safety Technology Center
August 23, 2012

NITE (National Institute of Technology and Evaluation; President: Itaru Yasui) gave a presentation for the media on preventing accidents involving care beds etc. at the site of care as shown in the attached materials.

1. Press release

Release date:
August 23, 2012
Title:
Prevention of accidents involving care beds etc. at the site of care
Publisher:
Product Safety Technology Center
Summary:
Society has been aging, and care beds and related products (hereinafter referred to as "care beds etc." *1) have been increasingly used in hospitals and care facilities. As home care becomes more common, accidents involving those products have become more frequent.
Of the product accidents reported to the NITE Product Safety Technology Center, the number of accidents involving care beds etc. amounted to 179 (*2) for the five-year period from fiscal 2007 to 2011. Accidents involving care beds etc. cause heavier damage and occur more frequently to people with reduced physical functions and cognitive levels. In addition, accidents are more frequent at the beginning of the use of care beds for such reasons as a problem in their installation. Hence, we request people involved in care in particular to be careful to prevent such accidents.
(*1)
"Care beds etc." refers to care beds (not including hospital beds), grips for bed, and side rails.
Grip for bed: A tool that helps a person to sit up and stand up at the bed.
Side rail: A fence on the side of a bed that keeps a person on the bed from falling off.
(*2)
The figure is as of June 29, 2012, and was compiled on a "date of occurrence" basis, excluding duplicate and inapplicable information. As the figure was found to include 43 cases that are the same case (recall) of the same business operator that occurred in fiscal 2011 with no damage, the analysis was carried out on the other 136 cases.
Press briefing paper in Japanese

For more information;
National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE)
Product Safety Technology Center, Product Safety Investigation Division

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