- Original Poster
- #1
Hi there,
I hope I am posting in the right place - I'm imaging that this could become a legal issue if I can't clarify it myself, and then with my customers..
When childrens toys have an age recommendation for example 18 months - 5 years, if I hire out such equipment, I'd obviously need the person hiring it to understand that this age recommendation is from the manufacturer (presumably to ensure safe use, protect manufacturer against liability if a child uses it that isn't of the correct age and the injury relates directly to the age aspect (perhaps their size??) as opposed to another fault such as faulty parts) but I'd also image that if I am the person hiring it out and I allow children that are not within the right age range to use the equipment, (sort of indirectly as the parents may just tell me the ages of all children at the event and then they turn out to be a different age, for example, hiring equipment for use at a 2 year olds birthday party but all children bar the birthday child are 1 year olds and this is below the age recommendation) could I be liable for negligence in relation to the age? I.e. I should have taken the steps to ensure that only children of the correct age use the equipment so as to minimise possible risk of injures relating to children of the wrong age using the equipment etc and what kind of steps do you think an insurance/other legal body would find acceptable for me to gather such informtion? Could I just ask the person hiring the equioment and take their response as the truth?
I would obviously have public liability insurance and my own procedures to ensure that every piece of equipment is checked and safe to go out on hire, and tht the person hiring signs a document to show that they understand that they are responsible for ensuring the safe use of equipment during the event and what safe use is defined as so they are clear, but I just wondered how it would be affect by this recommended age issue?
I have had a look online, but I can find mostly parents are arguing that age recommendations haven't been appropriate in terms of what age their child appreciates/gets the best use out of the toys, which could be one of the manufactuers motives for setting the age, other than the obvious small parts/choking hazard etc and I am referring to toy cars that are pushed along by the child's feet so not a swing or climbing toy that would be more specifically related to weight/size limits?
If anyone has any knowledge or experience of this type of situation I would really appreciate the help.
Apologies for the long post!
Thanks in advance : )
Melissa
I hope I am posting in the right place - I'm imaging that this could become a legal issue if I can't clarify it myself, and then with my customers..
When childrens toys have an age recommendation for example 18 months - 5 years, if I hire out such equipment, I'd obviously need the person hiring it to understand that this age recommendation is from the manufacturer (presumably to ensure safe use, protect manufacturer against liability if a child uses it that isn't of the correct age and the injury relates directly to the age aspect (perhaps their size??) as opposed to another fault such as faulty parts) but I'd also image that if I am the person hiring it out and I allow children that are not within the right age range to use the equipment, (sort of indirectly as the parents may just tell me the ages of all children at the event and then they turn out to be a different age, for example, hiring equipment for use at a 2 year olds birthday party but all children bar the birthday child are 1 year olds and this is below the age recommendation) could I be liable for negligence in relation to the age? I.e. I should have taken the steps to ensure that only children of the correct age use the equipment so as to minimise possible risk of injures relating to children of the wrong age using the equipment etc and what kind of steps do you think an insurance/other legal body would find acceptable for me to gather such informtion? Could I just ask the person hiring the equioment and take their response as the truth?
I would obviously have public liability insurance and my own procedures to ensure that every piece of equipment is checked and safe to go out on hire, and tht the person hiring signs a document to show that they understand that they are responsible for ensuring the safe use of equipment during the event and what safe use is defined as so they are clear, but I just wondered how it would be affect by this recommended age issue?
I have had a look online, but I can find mostly parents are arguing that age recommendations haven't been appropriate in terms of what age their child appreciates/gets the best use out of the toys, which could be one of the manufactuers motives for setting the age, other than the obvious small parts/choking hazard etc and I am referring to toy cars that are pushed along by the child's feet so not a swing or climbing toy that would be more specifically related to weight/size limits?
If anyone has any knowledge or experience of this type of situation I would really appreciate the help.
Apologies for the long post!
Thanks in advance : )
Melissa
