Can I sue for reckless endangerment or negligence? This incident needs to signal change….?

[snowbunnyninja]

Ill keep the particular chain of restaurants anonymous for now….

Long of the sort - I brought my child to eat and play at a certain fast food chain. After a few minutes of playing in the play place - I noticed her once black paints had turned rust colored. I ran up to her, and could distinctively smell that it was bleach!! My husband entered the play place only to discover that there were puddles of bleach throughout!! We ran in to get the manager, who told is that it wasn't bleach and that they didn't have any bleach in the store. The maintenance guy then came out and confirmed that they did, and although they were not suppose to use bleach there, someone clearly had. After a few minutes my daughter started screaming that her legs and buns were burning.... she then started digging at her face and mouth a bit, so I know those were clearly burning too, as he hands were covered in bleach.

Other than skin irritation my daughter is fine, thank goodness the bleach did not make it's way into her eyes (she is only 2) or she did not ingest significant amounts. The owner has called is and admitted that he had an outside company hired to come "professionally" clean and power wash the play area. This is a huge no-no, as the area is only to be cleaned with certain solutions! I can't believe no one did a safety check of any type!

I feel that it is a clear case of reckless endangerment and negligence, and even though my daughter is okay, she keeps talking about "the burn" which breaks my heart. I fully think the company should be held liable for this and don't want this to happen to anyone else. Thoughts? What action can I take?
thank you for those of you who are providing USEFUL information.

1. I did actually take my child into the bathroom to rinse her off while my husband dealt with the manager/maintenance guy. We left the restaurant with her stripped down to a diaper… We went home because it was the closest location, and on the way, were on the phone with her pediatrician. She told us how to treat her immediately, and provided the warning signs to watch for - none of which happened besides a hoarse voice, which they said was most likely from the fumes but was okay so long as she was acting normally… Her skin was red, but no blisters or open wounds.

2. There was no door in my description - it was actually an outside location, which was why we didn't smell it before she entered the structure. Apparently a concentrated bleach powder had been spread and left there for sometime (according to the owner). It rained the previous day, so the fact that these potent puddles were still leftover was scary