Adult Portable Bed Handles Recalled by Bed Handles Inc. Due to Entrapment and Strangulation Hazards; Three Deaths Reported

WASHINGTON, May 20, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Bed Handles Inc., of Blue Springs, Mo., are announcing the voluntary recall of about 113,000 adult portable bed handles.  When attached to an adult's bed without the use of safety retention straps, the handle can shift out of place creating a dangerous gap between the bed handle and the side of the mattress. This poses a serious risk of entrapment, strangulation and death.

Three women died after becoming entrapped between the mattress and the bed handles. They include an elderly woman, age unknown, who died in an Edina, Minn. assisted living facility; a 41-year-old disabled woman who died in a Renton, Wash. adult family home; and an 81-year-old woman who died in a Vancouver, Wash. managed care facility.

The recall involves adult portable bed handles sold by Bed Handles Inc. from 1994 through 2007 that do not have safety retention straps to secure the bed handle to the bed frame to keep the bed handle from shifting out of place and creating a dangerous gap. Recalled models include the Original Bedside Assistant® (BA10W), the Travel Handles™ (BA11W) which is sold as a set of two bed handles, and the Adjustable Bedside Assistant® (AJ1).   

The L-shaped bed handles are made out of ¾ inch tubular steel, measure 20 inches wide, 16 to 20 inches tall and have 3 ft. poles that extend under the mattress. The Original Bedside Assistant® (BA10W) and the Travel Handles™ (BA11W) have a white handle with white poles that go under the mattress. The Adjustable Bedside Assistant® (AJ1) is gold in color and has a black cushioned foam handle. The bed handles are intended to assist adults with getting in and out of bed by giving them a bar to grip. Bed Handles Inc. and the model number are printed on a white label on the bed handles.

They were sold by home health care stores, drug stores and medical equipment stores nationwide and in home and health care catalogs from January 1994 through December 2007 for about $100.  They were manufactured in the United States.

Consumers should immediately stop using all recalled bed handles that were sold without safety retention straps. Contact Bed Handles Inc. for free safety retention straps to secure the bed handle to the bed frame, new assembly and installation instructions for models BA10W, BA11W and AJ1 and a warning label to attach to the bed handles.  The bed handles should be used only with the safety retention straps securely in place attaching the bed handle to the bed frame in order to prevent a gap.

Contact Bed Handles Inc. at (800) 725-6903 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, or online at http://bedhandles.com/recall.html.

Recall Summary

Name of Product: Portable bed handles

Hazard: When attached to an adult's bed without the use of safety retention straps, the handle can shift out of place, creating a dangerous gap between the bed handle and the side of the mattress. This poses a serious risk of entrapment, strangulation and death.

Remedy: Repair

Consumer Contact: Bed Handles Inc. at (800) 725-6903 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, or online at http://bedhandles.com/recall.html.

Photos are available at http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2014/Adult-Portable-Bed-Handles-Recalled-by-Bed-Handles-Inc/

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction.  Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical or mechanical hazard. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters and household chemicals – contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 40 years.

Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly-announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the Commission.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury go online to www.SaferProducts.gov or call CPSC's Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or teletypewriter at (301) 595-7054 for the hearing impaired. Consumers can obtain news release and recall information at www.cpsc.gov, on Twitter @USCPSC or by subscribing to CPSC's free e-mail newsletters.

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SOURCE U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission