Jarod’s Law Should Be Established in Every State
Jarod’s Law was introduced after a horrible tragedy occurred in an Ohio school. On December 19, 2003, six year old Jarod Bennett was killed in school by a mobile, folding cafeteria table. He is one of over a dozen children that has be killed by tables, throughout the country.
Jarod Bennett’s death and the death and injuries of these other children were preventable. Many of the tables even have decals on them warning of their danger. The table that killed Jarod had two warning decals placed on the surface of the table.
For the last ten years the Federal Government Consumer Product Safety Organization has been attempting to raise awareness of the dangers of these tables to children. They state that the tables can easily tip over and cause serious injury or kill a child.
The Underwriters Laboratories have developed a tip over testing standard. They say a 290 lb table (like the one that killed Jarod) can tip over with only 27lbs of tip over pressure and when it falls, it falls like a tree at a force of over 8 tons. This was no match for the 40lb body of Jarod.
The summary of Jarod’s Law is as follows:
1. The creation of a School Health and Safety network.
2. Annual inspections of every school in the state of Ohio by the Ohio State Board of health.
3. Published inspection reports of each school that can be viewed by the public.
4. Mandatory written plans and timeframes for each item that does not meet the inspection rules.
5. Review of how the schools will fix all inspection problems.
6. Auditing of the School Health and Safety Network by the State of Ohio Auditor’s office.
To view the full law (HB203 Act) check out the legislature link on the Ohio State website.
School officials are now aware of the dangers and they are taking the steps to correct all safety problems. They must not forget these 3 important guidelines when dealing with folding, mobile cafeteria tables.
1. Do not allow children to move tables; only adults should move them.
2. Do not allow children to play near these tables.
3. When an adult is moving a table, make sure no children is near because they can easily tip.
Take the time to think about the safety of the schools in your state. Are you sure they are taking all the appropriate measures? If you are not sure, please write your state officials and ask them to make Jarod’s Law a law for your schools, too. You should also make sure your local PTA’s are aware of this problem.
Don’t let Jarod Bennett’s death and the death and injuries of all the other children be in vain, let this horrible incident serve as a warning to your schools so other children can be protected.
