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Innovation Turns Near-Tragedy into Business that Saves Lives
August 8, 2006
Member: George DeCell
George DeCell's resourcefulness has helped him turn a near-tragedy into an opportunity to save the lives of small children. Along the way, he founded a successful enterprise and has begun to change the way people look at a common device sold to enhance safety; a device that itself poses a serious risk to those it was designed to protect.
In the spring of 2002 George's infant daughter Sage choked on a standard outlet cover of the sort used to keep little fingers out of electrical outlets. He had removed it to plug in a vacuum cleaner, and Sage had come upon it while he was busy vacuuming. In the frantic moments that ensued, as George struggled desperately to remove the cap from where it had lodged in Sage's throat, he recognized that the design of this device made it an almost perfect tool for obstructing infant breathing passages. In addition, its smooth surface (the plastic prongs that insert into an outlet during normal use were turned, facing down his daughter's throat and away from his prying fingers) made it nearly impossible to grab.
George's diligence that day saved his daughter's life and prevented any lasting harm to her from this incident, but this frightening experience gave his inventive mind new focus. Over the next year, he tried to persuade the manufacturers of these otherwise helpful tools to change their design, hoping to prevent further tragedies like this one from occurring. None would listen.
In time, he resolved to invent a new kind of plug, one that would still help protect children from inserting their fingers into sockets but would also be too large to fit into a child's airway. With supporting research from government agencies and consumer watchdog groups, he designed his Safety Cap to be large enough to prevent it from being swallowed. His design adds small openings, that would allow air to pass through the cap should some resourceful child manage to inhale it, and would allow the plug to be gripped and removed in such a circumstance.
Safety caps are now used in many fast-food restaurants, in hotels, hospitals, stores, and homes, and well over 100,000 units have been distributed. George DeCell was recently honored as MIT's inventor of the week, and continues to spread the word that there is a better way to keep children safe. And we'll bet that because of that, lives are being saved.
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