As the PR consultant, you need to think about several audiences. These should be the people affected by the faulty desks, the public and your own employees.
It would be difficult to discuss an entire crisis management plan here, but I'll give you a few thoughts.
First, in everything you do, you must show concern for the safety of consumers and outline specifically what is being done to ensure the situation doesn't occur again. If in fact the reason was poor quality and lack of product testing, your company should implement a testing program for all furniture and announce publicly what is being done. You must do it, and not just say you are doing it. This is an instance when a company could have saved a lot of money had they done the right thing to begin with. Because they did not, they must NOW do the right thing to improve their tarnished image.
As far as the individuals affected by the faulty desks, you have already settled out of court with one and may be sued by others. You have (or need) an attorney. This is a delicate situation, because from a PR standpoint, you should be in contact with the "victims." Not doing so could result in them telling the media that you have ignored them, and you come across as the business that doesn't care. Your attorney on the other hand may advise against being in contact with the victims. My best advice in this situation is to talk with the attorney about what you can do to show the victims that you do care about what happened to them. Since the victims are children, this is especially important.
Finally, your third audience is your employees. They should be kept informed of what is happening, but they should not talk to the media. Only a designated person (such as the President) or the hired PR consultant should release any information to the media or public in order to control the flow and accuracy of information.
When deciding how to release information to the media (in this case your plan for correcting the situation), I personally use this rule of thumb. If your company is taking a major hit in the public eye, call a press conference and tackle the issue loudly and swiftly. If it's a situation where you are taking a hit on a smaller level, you may take a slower approach. Perhaps simply send a news release or wait and see if the situation continues to develop. My point is that there is no need to call a news conference and draw more attention to the situation, if the negative publicity is not already widespread. Some may disagree with me on this, but it's the approach I've taken as a successful PR Director.
I hope this helps.