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compensation following an accident
illness or injury - nationwide
Call: 0800 10 757 95
Before making a product liability claim on behalf of a child, it might save an individual time if they first make sure that the company and the product are really to blame for whatever personal injury has been suffered.
Child friendly paint is widely available in all children's toy shops and craft shops over the UK. They are often washable, so that a child's clothes are not ruined after a painting activity, and they are non-toxic, so that young children, who are still exploring the world with their mouths, do not become ill if they ingest the product.
However, if parents or guardians of a child are not aware that some paints are very bad for young children's health, then they may buy normal acrylic or oil paints for their child to play with and wish to claim for the child's subsequent illness, not realising that they, as the guardian, could be deemed at fault.
Toxic paints
Paints which are not safe for children to play with contain harmful chemicals that can cause varying degrees of harm depending on the child's age, the state of their health prior to ingesting the chemical, and the quantity ingested. These harmful compounds are often called volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Many chemicals used in acrylic paint may also cause pain, irritation and redness if they make contact with eyes. Toxic substances in paint can make a young child very ill. If a guardian knows or suspects that their child has eaten some acrylic paint, they should take them to a hospital's accident and emergency department as soon as possible.
Oil paints may also irritate eyes and can cause skin to crack. Inhaling the fumes from oil paint can cause headaches and nausea, and being exposed to the chemicals regularly, could result in long term damage to kidneys and the liver.
Non-toxic paints
Whereas toxic paints use high levels of VOC solvents, non-toxic paints use very small quantities or none at all, and tend to use water instead of petrol-based solvents as a "carrier", which is the part of the product mixed with pigment and paint binder to create the paint's consistency.
In the UK, paints should legally have a VOC label on them, notifying the customer of its VOC content. The label can inform potential buyers that the volatile chemical content is Minimal, which means that its contents amounts to 0.29% VOCs or less, Low, Medium,High, or Very high, which means that 50% or more of the paint is made of volatile organic compounds which could cause harm to the environment as well as humans.
Completely non-toxic paints, also known as "natural paints", which use no VOCs at all, are made from natural ingredients such as water, vegetable oils, plant dyes, natural minerals such as clay and lime, milk protein and earth pigments.
Do you have a viable paint-related product liability claim?
If the paint ingested did not carry a label claiming it to be non-toxic, then a case is unlikely to be successful, as toxic paint should be kept out of a child's reach.
However, if a child under your care has suffered personal injury after ingesting a paint which described itself as non-toxic or natural, then you could make a compensation claim against the manufacturing company.
YouClaim has expert solicitors waiting to take on your case, and should your claim be successful, you will receive 100% compensation, because we don't take a cut for ourselves.
If you think that you are eligible to make a product liability claim, then simply call us direct on 0800 10 757 95, fill in our short online claim form, or chat over the internet using live help.
