Note: Blazon and Turco are out of business. Do not use their products. Please discard or destroy their products.

Slide Guards To Prevent Strangulation From Clothing String Entanglement

PRODUCT: Hedstrom "Big T" swing sets, Blazon Flexible Flyer "T-Type Play Centers", and Sears brand T-style gym sets.

PROBLEM: Strings from children's clothing may become entangled in the area where the handrail attaches to the slide. This presents a strangulation hazard.

WHAT TO DO: Hedstrom is offering consumers guards to prevent the entanglement potential. The guards will fill in the handrail-to-slide area. Consumers should call Hedstrom Corporation at 1-800-453-7077 or 1-800-233-3271. Blazon-Flexible Flyer, Inc. and Turco are out of business. If consumers own the Blazon Flexible Flyer "T-Type Play Center" or the product manufactured by Turco, the product should be discarded or destroyed immediately.

WASHINGTON, DC -- In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Hedstrom Corporation of Bedford, PA is providing consumers with guards to prevent entanglement of strings on children's clothing in the handrail attachment area of certain slides. The plastic guards offered by the companies will fill in the handrail-to-slide area where a child's clothing may catch and possibly result in strangulation. The slides involved are on the "Hedstrom Big T" swing sets and on Sears brand T-style gym sets manufactured by Hedstrom. Guards are not available for slides made by Blazon-Flexible Flyer, Inc. of West Point, MS, and Turco (went out of business in 1986), since both of these firms are out of business. These include Blazon-Flexible Flyer "T-Type Play Centers" and the Sears brand T-style gym sets manufactured by Blazon and Turco.

The Hedstrom Corporation received a report that a three year- old-girl strangled when her mitten strings, which were strung through her coat, caught at the point where the handrail attaches to the Big T slide. In addition, the Commission is aware of a hood string of a child's jacket that became entangled in the handrail attachment area of an older, similarly-designed slide whose brand could not be identified.

While Blazon-Flexible Flyer, Inc. and Turco are unaware of any reports of entanglement, their products are considered by the CPSC to be functionally identical to that of the Hedstrom Big T slide involved in the incidents.

Hedstrom Big T and Blazon-Flexible Flyer T-Type Play Center swing sets with slides were sold nationally in retail stores from 1986 through 1991. They sold for approximately $100-200 each. Turco swing sets were sold from 1973 to 1987. Hedstrom, Blazon-Flexible Flyer and Turco also sold their T-style swing sets under the Sears labels with various model numbers.

If consumers have the Hedstrom Big T "T-Type Play Center", they are urged to contact Hedstrom Corporation at 1-800-453-7077 or 1-800-233-3271 immediately to receive the plastic guards. The guards can be easily attached at the handrail-to-slide area of the T-style swing sets. If consumers have Blazon or Turco products, they should immediately destroy or discard these Turco or Blazon-Flexible Flyer T-Type Play Center swing sets, as both firms are out of business.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is announcing this modification program as part of its mission to protect the public from unreasonable risks of injury and death associated with consumer products. The commissions's objective is to reduce the estimated 28.5 million injuries and 21,600 deaths associated each year with the 15,000 different types of consumer products under CPSC's jurisdiction.