With everyone staying closer to home this summer, it’s important to be aware of the dangers at/on playgrounds and other common places that could cause children to be injured. Stay safe this summer by following our proposed safety guidelines below:

• Adult Supervision
  • Adult Supervision is a MUST. Young children are not always able to measure distances and have difficulty foreseeing dangerous situations.
• Playground Design Safety
  • The most important factors in evaluating the safety of any playground are proper surface, design and spacing, and equipment inspection and maintenance.

One day after a 16-year-old boy fell to his death from a second-floor window of the old Ravenswood Hospital, the owner of the vacant building said he received a permit “to secure or take down the fire escape that police said the boy used to sneak into the structure.” While a welcome development, it may be a case of too little too late.

In the Chicago Tribune report, Lycee Francais, which purchased the property in November 2011, also said it has applied for a permit to demolish the entire building.

The old hospital, at 1931 W. Wilson Ave. in Chicago, had been an eyesore and a danger since ...

More Chicago-area pools have met state and federal requirements for safer pool drains and can reopen. After a year-long effort sparked by the drowning deaths of children who were trapped underwater by the suction from drains, most pools in Illinois are winning regulatory permission to reopen with new drainage systems — just in time for summer, too.

Last year, the federal government recalled 1 million pool and spa drain covers following a Chicago Tribune investigation. On Oct. 1, Illinois shut down 563 pools considered out of compliance with its version of the federal Virginia ...

On May 25, a 15-year-old Chicago girl was swept by a wave into Lake Michigan and drowned. Two days later, a 10-year-old boy died after rescue divers pulled him from Jericho Lake in Montgomery. These two tragedies remind us all that lakes, rivers, and beaches, combined with a lack of swimming skills, present a fatal danger of drowning accidents -- particularly to children and teens.

The most recent statistics from the State of Illinois were compiled in 2006, and it’s likely they haven’t improved significantly. The study found that drowning is the leading cause of accidental death ...

A 55-year-old man from Itasca, IL, was killed May 22 in Arlington Heights and 17 others were injured when an explosion in a factory tore through a testing area. The blast also sent potassium hydroxide fumes into the air and launched rocks from the roof to the parking lot, where 20 cars were damaged.

Initial examinations by the Illinois State Fire Marshal’s office and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have called the blast “probably accidental.” The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has now taken over the investigation.

The ...

Your cruise ship contract could be taking you for a ride. While most cruises are safe and pleasantly memorable ones, there are cases where passengers have suffered injuries and even death, such as the Costa Concordia shipwreck on January 13.

Many passengers on that boat ride are just now beginning to realize that there was a legal structure in place that shelters cruise operators from big-money lawsuits. The situation gets more complicated in remote jurisdictions. The Costa Concordia, a subsidiary of industry giant Carnival Corp., is located in Italy.

Many cruise ship passengers ...

If you’re among the thousands of Chicago renters who prefer high-rise living, you’ll be glad to know that the city has posted fire safety information online for hundreds of older residential towers.

The step was taken in the wake of a Lake Shore Drive high-rise fire in December that took the life of a young woman. The owners of the building where she lived had not submitted an acceptable plan to the city that would meet tougher safety standards enacted after a 2003 fire killed six people locked in a stairwell in the Cook County Administration Building.

The decision to post the reports ...

We all know that skiing, sledding and skating are fun, healthy winter sports, but they have the potential to cause severe personal injuries unless proper safety precautions are practiced. Common injuries from falls include sprains and muscle strains, dislocations, fractures and even brain injuries.

The U.S. Product Safety Commission reports that in 2010, more than 440,000 people were treated in hospitals, doctors’ offices and emergency rooms for winter sports-related injuries.

Snow-skiing and snowboarding injuries accounted for the most injuries. Sledding and ...

We at Romanucci & Blandin were saddened to learn about the recent deaths of two Chicago-area children who died when TV sets tipped over and crushed them. Those deaths may never have happened if the TV sets in their homes had been secured to the wall with inexpensive nylon straps.

We agree with some experts that TV manufacturers should include the safety straps as part of the sale. Electronic retailers seldom mention the straps when they are closing the sale. It can also be difficult to find mounting kits that include straps and brackets.

In addition to the safety straps, here are some tips to ...

We agree with child safety advocates who have called for a stronger federal law to make agricultural jobs for youths safer. But sadly, strengthened laws are too late to protect the two Whiteside County 14-year-old girls who suffered a wrongful death in a Whiteside County, Illinois, cornfield last week when they were electrocuted while detasseling corn.

The Child Labor Coalition, based in Washington, D.C., announced in June 2011 that it supported a bill introduced in the House to amend the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act). Currently, the law permits young teens ...

Romanucci & Blandin has been actively involved in the Ford City Mall natural gas explosion for quite some time now. In that occurrence, many people were injured when a natural gas pipeline ruptured in the Ford City Mall parking lot. Having personally inspected the scene several times after the explosion, it looked nothing short of a war zone. Quite frankly, it appeared as if a bomb had been dropped into the parking lot. as the cause and origin of that explosion is yet to be determined and the litigants are deep into discovery, it would be inappropriate to comment at this time what we feel is the ...