McDonald's to Pay $4 Million Damage Settlement
WASHINGTON, June 29, 1999 -- McDonald's Corp.has agreed to pay the government $4 million in damages for failing to inform the Consumer Product Ssafety Commission of playground injuries at some of its restaurants.The settlement resolves a dispute arising from enforcement of a
1995 Playground Equipment Reporting Agreement between McDonald's and the government. The
cooperative agreement announced today also establishes important new playground facility
reporting and safety guidelines.
The injuries involve the "Big Mac Climber," a metal platform resembling a
hamburger, that is no longer in any McDonald's playgrounds.
According to CPSC, from the 1970s through the 1980s,
more than 400 children were injured on Big Mac Climbers, mostly in falls, including nearly
20 who suffered concussions or skull fractures and 80 who suffered broken bones. Injuries
declined significantly in the 1990s as McDonald's began removing the climbers. All the
climbers have now been removed and scrapped.
According to the CPSC, today's settlement marks the second time that McDonald's has failed
to report dangerous playground equipment to CPSC.
The first violation involved numerous injuries, including broken bones, suffered by children who played on "Tug-N-Turn" merry-go-round rides, another old piece of equipment that no longer exists at McDonald's.
In 1995, McDonald's settled that case by agreeing to
develop, execute and finance a $5 million children's safety campaign with CPSC.
Additionally, McDonald's agreed to report other dangerous playground equipment to CPSC,
and pay up to $5 million if it failed to do so.
The new agreement resolves the issues based on McDonald's failure to inform CPSC about
risks associated with the Big Mac Climber. In an effort to resolve the dispute amicably,
to clarify McDonald's reporting duties so that similar disputes do not arise in the
future, and to avoid the cost of taking the dispute to court, McDonald's has agreed to the
$4 million settlement announced today.
McDonald's maintains that it has fully complied with the letter and spirit of the
reporting requirements of the 1995 Agreement.
"McDonald's is pleased to settle old issues about equipment that is no longer in our
system. We've resolved our dispute over the Big Mac Climber and we're moving on
cooperatively," said Joe Beckwith, McDonald's Corporation Senior Vice President and
Corporate Safety Officer. "We regard this settlement as an investment in safety
because it establishes important new safety guidelines. We want to add that this
resolution has nothing to do with the safety of our current play facilities, nor with
making them safe -- they already are."
CPSC Chairman Ann Brown stated, "Companies that make commitments to CPSC, as
McDonald's did in 1995, must keep them. Because McDonald's received a second chance in
1995, we were particularly disturbed that it failed to adhere to the agreement by not
telling CPSC about another unsafe piece of playground equipment. The terms of this
settlement show that CPSC takes playground safety very seriously and that we will not
tolerate the failure of any company to report dangerous products to us. This issue has now
been resolved and I'm pleased that McDonald's is working with us to keep kids safer."
David W. Ogden, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division, commented,
"I commend the CPSC and McDonald's for resolving their differences without additional
litigation. The Playground Equipment Reporting Agreement negotiated in 1995 between
McDonald's, the CPSC and the Justice Department, and supplemented today, established an
excellent framework for protecting children who play at McDonald's playgrounds."
