Child and Adolescent Safety

A child’s interaction with products, environments, and hazards is unique because their physical, cognitive, and perceptual abilities are in constant development as they grow. From infancy through adolescence, children are constantly evolving in their ability to recognize, avoid, and respond to potential risks and hazards. Caregiver monitoring and supervision also shifts with each developmental stage. Developmental factors are critical to consider when investigating accidents, products, and environments involving children and adolescents.

What is a Child Safety Expert?

Experts in child and adolescent safety translate complex developmental factors into actionable insights to help clients make science-based decisions that consider how children perceive and interact with their world. We assist organizations, manufacturers, and designers in evaluating whether products, environments, and supervision practices align with recognized industry standards and regulations.

Other teams in marketing, legal, and risk management also benefit from our specialized expertise in child and adolescent development, and cognitive, perceptual, and physical human factors. We implement a multidisciplinary approach which considers technical and developmental factors, resulting in scientifically rigorous analyses for our clients.

Child Safety Consulting Services

We use scientific, developmental, and empirical data, combined with cutting edge technology and equipment, to analyze incidents involving children and evaluate risk. Backed by a wealth of experience across a diverse range of scenarios, our Human Factors experts can provide thorough assessments on:

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Child and Adolescent Safety playground

The effect of a child’s developmental stage on risk perception, behavior, strength capabilities, body kinematics, and injury
The interactions of children and adolescents with products and environments to identify potential hazards and misuse situations, and consider spatial and anthropometric designs
Caregiver supervision practices at home and in retail, educational, and recreational settings, such as playgrounds and bodies of water
Information systems and processes (e.g., on-product warning labels, instruction manuals, etc.) for clarity, placement, and expected effectiveness
Product and environmental design safeguards for alignment with applicable industry standards and best practices
Injury and mortality data to identify behavioral patterns and contextual factors in youth-related accidents

Why Choose Rimkus?

Our qualified team members include Certified Playground Safety Inspectors (CPSI), Child Passenger Safety Technicians (CPST), Board-Certified Human Factors Professionals, and other credentialed consultants. With decades of experience in litigation consulting, regulatory compliance, and product safety analysis, we can provide comprehensive evaluations for a multitude of environments and use cases. Clients find value in our high-quality work products that center these key priorities:

Actionable Insights
- Practical recommendations that help manufacturers, insurers, and attorneys anticipate risks, improve product design, and support or defend claims

Regulatory Expertise
- Deep familiarity with safety standards and guidelines from organizations such as CPSC, ASTM, NHTSA, and the American Academy of Pediatrics

Defensible Testimony
- Credible and concise expert opinions that translate complex child development and safety science into compelling courtroom testimony

Scientific Rigor
- Evidence-based evaluations grounded in developmental psychology, human factors, and injury prevention science

We deliver clear, defensible assessments that help clients understand both the human and technical factors contributing to accidents involving children. Our team’s expertise bridges the gap between child development science and real-world safety outcomes, equipping clients with the insights needed to manage risk, improve product safety, and resolve disputes effectively.

Case Applications

Rimkus supports clients across industries in both litigation and proactive risk management.

Consumer Products
- Analyzing if and how a child could reasonably operate or misuse a consumer product
Children’s Products and Toys
- Evaluating age-appropriateness, potential hazards, and compliance with safety standards
Premises Liability
- Evaluating adequacy of adult supervision and design safeguards in retail spaces, playgrounds, or pool
Playgrounds and Recreational Settings
- Investigating falls, equipment-related injuries, design safeguards, and adequacy of warnings and adult supervision in public and private play environments, and compliance with applicable standards
Children Pedestrians and Passengers
- Evaluating proper use of child restraints and other child safety equipment, and caregiver decision-making in vehicle and roadway environments

Home Environments
- Addressing child access to household chemicals, choking and ingestion hazards, furniture tip-overs, and thermal hazards
Aquatic Environments
- Evaluating drowning and near-drowning incidents in pools, lakes, ponds, and other aquatic environments