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under keyless locks ••• Safety Medicine Cabinets
under keyless locks •••
safety medicine cabinets
When not in immediate use, all medicines should be kept in a separate closet or other well defined space, where nothing else is kept. If the closet can be kept under lock and key , so much the better.
T
his was the recommendation made for t he benefit of t he public in a booklet-Plain Directions for Accidents, Emergencies and Poiwns-printed and distributed by the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York in ]875. This advice is still as valuable today as it was nearly 100 years ago. The March 1960 special poison prevention issue of THIS J OURNAL described the initial meeting of a government-industry conference on the development of special A mother with child in arms (top) pushes the two buttons which open the safety medicine cabinet suggested by Dr. A.L. Chapman, assistant surgeon general and chief of the USPHS division of special health services. Graham H. Milner (bottom) of the Miami Cabinet Division , Philip Carey Manufacturing Company of Middletown, Ohio, presents a prototype safety medicine cabinet at the recent Government-Industry Conference on Safety Medicine Cabinets.
medicine cabinets which can be opened only by adults. The group, composed of Public Health Service personnel, leading manufacturers of medicine cabinets, insurance representatives and others interested in the problem, met again recently in Vo..rashington to review the progress which has been made t hus far on the use of "child safe" medicine cabinets. The group urged the creation of an advisory committee on safety cabinets, selected from members of various trade associations and supported by the U.S. Public Health Service, to establish criteria for medicine cabinets. The seal illustrated above was submitted as a design for medicine cabinet manufacturers whose products have the approval of the advisory committee. Also, the committee was urged to bring pressure to bear on the National Association of Home Builders, the Federal Housing Administration and city governments in an attempt to establish a safe commercial standard for medicine cabinets in the nation's building codes. At least one medicine cabinet manufacturer has ini tiated a program calling upon builders to employ a medicine cabinet in all new homes. The increased incidence of poisonings from medicines is, according to F.H. Lawson Companyan indictment aga inst medicine cabi net manufacturers offering cab inets too small and home designers who specify and contractors who furn ish these small cabinets.
A variety of prototypes of safety medicine cabinets were exhibited to the industry-government-press conference on safety medicine cabinets held on March 8, 1961. Dr. A.L. Chapman, assistant surgeon general and chief of the U.S. P ublic Health Service division of special health service, presented a cabinet with five buttons on t he side, only two of which when pushed at the same time would open t he cabinet door. Graham H. Milner of Miami Cabinet Division of the Philip Carey Manufacturing Company of Middletown, Ohio, described a prototype, as did L.F. Wilmhoff of the F.H. Lawson Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. Working independently on the problem is Ralph Luikart, II, MD, of Santa Barbara, California, who has developed a simple keyless locking device which can be readily attached to the wall adjacent to existing medicine cabinets. The device to be called "The Guardian Angel" has a patent pending and is expected to be placed in production
The Guardian Angel is the name given to keyless this locking device by invented Ralph Luikart, II , MD, and Joseph B. McGeever of Santa Barbara , California, soon to be placed on the market.
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shortly. The basis for the lock is that only two of the eight buttons when pushed simultaneously will open the door. Dr. Luikart reports that as a practicing ph~'sician, he has been faced with accidental poisonings frequently. As a result he spent many hours puzzling over a solution to the safety medicine cabinet program. A neighbor .had been working on de,-eloping various keyless lockin g devices and so, as Dr. Luikart explains. they pooled t heir ideas and came u p with "The Guardian Angel" which will soon be available from the Guardian Angel Corporation, Box 1, Goleta, California. \Villiam E. Kramer, secretary of the Plumbing Fixture ~lanufacturers Association , reports that informal testing of a variety of safety medicine cabinets are in progress and that at least one keyless locking device requ iring a two-step process in opening the cabinet door appears to be promising. The keyless lock has been submitted by the National Lock Company of Rockford, Illinois, for informal tests. Like seat belts in automobiles, if public apathy can be eliminated, perhaps the safety medicine cabinet will eventually become a standard household fixture thereby aiding materially in the preYention of accidental ingestion of toxic drugs by children. Pharmacists can aid greatl~' in public education of this need once the safety cabinets of choice are readil.,- available on the market. •
safety medicine cabinets
When not in immediate use, all medicines should be kept in a separate closet or other well defined space, where nothing else is kept. If the closet can be kept under lock and key , so much the better.
T
his was the recommendation made for t he benefit of t he public in a booklet-Plain Directions for Accidents, Emergencies and Poiwns-printed and distributed by the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York in ]875. This advice is still as valuable today as it was nearly 100 years ago. The March 1960 special poison prevention issue of THIS J OURNAL described the initial meeting of a government-industry conference on the development of special A mother with child in arms (top) pushes the two buttons which open the safety medicine cabinet suggested by Dr. A.L. Chapman, assistant surgeon general and chief of the USPHS division of special health services. Graham H. Milner (bottom) of the Miami Cabinet Division , Philip Carey Manufacturing Company of Middletown, Ohio, presents a prototype safety medicine cabinet at the recent Government-Industry Conference on Safety Medicine Cabinets.
medicine cabinets which can be opened only by adults. The group, composed of Public Health Service personnel, leading manufacturers of medicine cabinets, insurance representatives and others interested in the problem, met again recently in Vo..rashington to review the progress which has been made t hus far on the use of "child safe" medicine cabinets. The group urged the creation of an advisory committee on safety cabinets, selected from members of various trade associations and supported by the U.S. Public Health Service, to establish criteria for medicine cabinets. The seal illustrated above was submitted as a design for medicine cabinet manufacturers whose products have the approval of the advisory committee. Also, the committee was urged to bring pressure to bear on the National Association of Home Builders, the Federal Housing Administration and city governments in an attempt to establish a safe commercial standard for medicine cabinets in the nation's building codes. At least one medicine cabinet manufacturer has ini tiated a program calling upon builders to employ a medicine cabinet in all new homes. The increased incidence of poisonings from medicines is, according to F.H. Lawson Companyan indictment aga inst medicine cabi net manufacturers offering cab inets too small and home designers who specify and contractors who furn ish these small cabinets.
A variety of prototypes of safety medicine cabinets were exhibited to the industry-government-press conference on safety medicine cabinets held on March 8, 1961. Dr. A.L. Chapman, assistant surgeon general and chief of the U.S. P ublic Health Service division of special health service, presented a cabinet with five buttons on t he side, only two of which when pushed at the same time would open t he cabinet door. Graham H. Milner of Miami Cabinet Division of the Philip Carey Manufacturing Company of Middletown, Ohio, described a prototype, as did L.F. Wilmhoff of the F.H. Lawson Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. Working independently on the problem is Ralph Luikart, II, MD, of Santa Barbara, California, who has developed a simple keyless locking device which can be readily attached to the wall adjacent to existing medicine cabinets. The device to be called "The Guardian Angel" has a patent pending and is expected to be placed in production
The Guardian Angel is the name given to keyless this locking device by invented Ralph Luikart, II , MD, and Joseph B. McGeever of Santa Barbara , California, soon to be placed on the market.
'---------------~I
shortly. The basis for the lock is that only two of the eight buttons when pushed simultaneously will open the door. Dr. Luikart reports that as a practicing ph~'sician, he has been faced with accidental poisonings frequently. As a result he spent many hours puzzling over a solution to the safety medicine cabinet program. A neighbor .had been working on de,-eloping various keyless lockin g devices and so, as Dr. Luikart explains. they pooled t heir ideas and came u p with "The Guardian Angel" which will soon be available from the Guardian Angel Corporation, Box 1, Goleta, California. \Villiam E. Kramer, secretary of the Plumbing Fixture ~lanufacturers Association , reports that informal testing of a variety of safety medicine cabinets are in progress and that at least one keyless locking device requ iring a two-step process in opening the cabinet door appears to be promising. The keyless lock has been submitted by the National Lock Company of Rockford, Illinois, for informal tests. Like seat belts in automobiles, if public apathy can be eliminated, perhaps the safety medicine cabinet will eventually become a standard household fixture thereby aiding materially in the preYention of accidental ingestion of toxic drugs by children. Pharmacists can aid greatl~' in public education of this need once the safety cabinets of choice are readil.,- available on the market. •