White House Swing Set Draws Attention to Child Safety

March 5, 2009— -- Vetting a brand new swing set may be just as tricky as vetting potential Cabinet picks.

So the Obamas' new swing set is drawing attention to child safety, as parents nationwide consider purchases for their children. Parts of the Rainbow swing set like the one that President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama added Wednesday to the White House South Lawn had been previously recalled, more than once, for safety reasons.

Malia and Sasha Obama were surprised Wednesday with the wooden set, including three swings, a slide, a green canvas loft, a tire swing and a ship's wheel.

"It's totally 'tricked out' [enhanced]," said Rainbow Play Systems owner Greg Foster, who was at the White House Wednesday to help install the swing set. "We put a double bubble in the penthouse. One bubble faces the Oval Office and one bubble faces the front lawn."

Foster also said that problems with Rainbow's swing seats were fixed long before the Obamas made their purchase. He also said the first family did its homework before buying the swing set.

The White House's chief usher flew out to the Brookings, S.D., swing set factory, per the first lady's instructions, to test out and help design a set for Malia and Sasha, Foster said.

"He [the chief usher] said he did his research first on the Internet and narrowed it down to three or four companies," Foster said.

In 2006, more than 18,000 Rainbow Play Systems swing seats were recalled because the part, made in China, could unexpectedly break in half. Rainbow voluntarily recalled the swing seats after 84 reports of broken seats, including the case a 2-year-old girl who suffered a broken wrist when she fell to the ground. Rainbow also voluntarily recalled 7,000 sets in 2000 after the company received seven reports of the chains holding the seats breaking.

"We sent everyone a new swing made in the U.S.A.," Foster told ABCNews.com today. "We haven't had a problem since the '04-'05 incidents and the swing seats on the Obama set were made in the U.S.A."

Today, the company makes its seats and other major parts in the United States, although it still imports some smaller bolts and hardware from other countries. Foster said company officials regularly inspect foreign facilities they work with and "we recheck everything ourselves in America."

"I would assume that they wouldn't have this particular problem again," Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids in Danger, a children's safety advocacy group, said Thursday.

Cowles added that a recall "doesn't necessarily mean that the company is not making a good product.

"Part of the problem is that it's just hard for consumers to know," she said.

Still, Cowles also said the number of children injured in these incidents might be even higher because "most people don't report that unless they feel like it broke right when they put it up or something."

Nearly 50,000 kids each year visit the emergency room after being injured on home playground equipment, according to data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.