I think that five years product liability/compliance is pretty consistent 
with the retention of OSHA injury reports and the content more or less 
corresponds except that OSHA is for "on the job" illness and injury and the 
other is not, but I'm surprised that the company was not keeping the 
information longer to show compliance to both timely reporting and then 
further investigation into the injuries.  In the event of a product recall 
or injuries, people often have more than five years to file a suit or 
discover the injury.  In the case of a child, the discovery of an injury may 
take longer and they may choose to file injury claims when they reach the 
age of majority...which is permitted in some states.  In one of my previous 
professional lives, we kept product liability information for 30 years and 
often delved into the old files to combat claims of injuries suffered as a 
minor or injuries that were alledged to have caused permanent injuries.  Our 
legal counsel the time equated a defective product to a potential turure 
workers compensation or permanent disability claim and we often went back to 
the material safety data sheets research whether or not the product, even if 
used contrary to packaging instructions, was capable of causing the alledged 
injury.

I would assume that this would vary by industry.... 

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