Highlight: Safe-Strap Company, Inc.

More than an estimated 20,000 children younger than age 5 are injured by shopping carts each year, according to a fact sheet from Safe-Strap Com., Inc., the Wharton, NJ –based company that in 1983 invented the shopping cart seat belt, which, undoubtedly have prevented many more injuries.

Paul Giampavolo, president of Safe-Strap, recalls working in a grocery store and witnessing children standing up and trying to get out of shopping carts. “It was later that I came upon a story, back in the 80’s,” he notes, “that announced that thousands of children were injured each year as a result of falling from carts.”

Giampavolo says that’s what led to the design and development of the shopping cart seat belt at a time when all children’s products that had a child seat, except for shopping carts, had required restraints. Back then, it was advertising and marketing professionals at grocery stores, he says, who pioneered shopping cart seat belt use.

“This was because it was found to be important to customers who shopped with small children.” Giampavolo says. “At that time, it became apparent that from marketing research, PR and the outpouring of positive reaction from people that this simple device was one of the most important factors in a customer’s shopping experience. In fact, numerous grocery retailers ran television commercials and fill page advertisements devoted solely to communicating that seat belts for shopping carts were available at their stores.”

Today, Safe-Strap counts all of the large retailers among its customers for the company’s shopping cart seat belts. If you see a shopping cart, chances are the seat belt is made by Safe-Strap.