Ross Stores Fined $500,000 for Selling Dangerous Children’s Sweatshirts

Ross Stores Inc. has agreed to pay a $500,000 fine for failing to tell the Consumer Product Safety Commission about defective children’s hooded sweatshirts the retailer sold which had drawstrings around the neck.

Children’s sweatshirts and other outerwear with drawstrings in the hood or around the neck pose an increased risk of strangulation to children, the CPSC said. Guidelines passed in 1996 and again in 2006 consider such items of children’s clothing defective due to the significantly increased risk of injury to young children. Each year, children are strangled, suffocated, and killed when they get the drawstrings on their clothing caught in playground equipment or other hazards.

Violation of Law Alleged

Ross was accused of breaking federal laws by knowingly selling prohibited clothing at its stores and failing to immediately notify the CPSC. The sweatshirts were eventually recalled from stores due to the risk of injury from the drawstrings.

By law, companies that manufacture, distribute, or sell consumer products are required to report to the CPSC within 24 hours when they discover that a product contains a defect that could create a substantial hazard and risk of serious injury or death.

Other major retail stores have been ordered before to pay similar fines for failing to follow the law regarding notification to the CPSC about potentially dangerous clothing.

Ross Stores, based in Pleasanton, Ca., agreed to pay the fine, but did not admit it violated the law in its marketing of children’s hooded sweatshirts with drawstings at the neck, the CPSC said.

The CPSC is still investigating and receiving reports of injuries to children wearing the sweatshirts with drawstrings that were purchased at Ross Stores, officials said.

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