George DeCell got scared, then when he didn’t get the support he needed from the government or industry, he got Making. Many parents go around the house and kidproof their digs. Child locks on knobs, latches on drawers and cabinets, and outlet plugs are all supposed to make children safer and leave their parents at ease about safety. But when George’s daughter choked on one of those very safety devices, he petitioned the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to make regulations to bring outlet caps into line with the requirements for baby pacifiers. When they didn’t respond quickly enough, George DeCell decided to make his own solution.
What would you have done? Could you/should you modify the outlet plugs in your house? Do you see unsafe products around you? What would you do to fix them? Do you know how to help people bring great life saving ideas to market? Add your suggestions and ideas to the comments section, and add photos and video to the Make Flickr pool.
4 thoughts on “Maker dad saves babies”
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A recessed outlet box with a locking mechanism would probably work better. More expensive? Yes.
While I don’t see his daughters incident as a sign of a clear and common hazard as much as a total random fluke, I really respect what he is doing. He didn’t shrug it off, he didn’t just bitch about it, and he didn’t stop at writing a letter.
This guy put his mind to it and is taking some serious risks and great effort and perseverance to make a change to the world that he believes will make it a better place. It may not, it may not even ever save anyone, but how many of us can say we saw something we thought needed doing and actually stood up and did it? This man is awesome just for that.