New standards to become mandatory in six months
of ConsumerAffairsFollowing recalls of millions of cribs due
to entrapment deaths and injuries, the Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC) has adopted new rules designed to insure that new
cribs have been tested for safety to rigorous standards.
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), signed
into law in August of 2008, requires the agency to issue mandatory standards
for infant durable products. This provision of the CPSIA was named in honor and
in memory of Danny Keysar, who was 16 months old when he died in his Chicago
childcare home because a portable crib collapsed around his neck.
The CPSIA requires mandatory standards and testing for
durable infant and toddler products, product registration cards and a ban on
the sale or lease of unsafe cribs. Cribs are among the first products for which
mandatory standards have been promulgated under this provision.
"This new mandatory standard, the strongest in the world,
will ensure that new cribs coming onto the market will provide safe haven for
babies and their families," said Nancy Cowles, Executive Director of Kids In
Danger. "We applaud CPSC for their hard work and tenacity in developing and
adopting this landmark rule."
Requirements
The new rule puts many new tests and requirements in place:
- Cribs with full side drop-sides will not be allowed -- the bottom 20 inches of the crib rail must be fixed to eliminate the entrapment hazards seen when the hardware fails.
- All cribs must undergo rigorous testing for slat strength, durability and mattress support strength. The series of testing is conducted on one crib to simulate a lifetime use of a crib. This is the key to the new standard. Most of the 10 million cribs recalled since 2007 were able to meet the weak industry standards that were in place.
- Warnings and labeling have been improved, both to make parents more aware of when a crib is mis-assembled and to alert them to developmental signs to stop using a crib (when the child attempts to climb out). While most attention has been rightly focused on entrapment deaths in cribs, most injuries are as a result of children falling out of cribs
Higher standards
The new requirements are mostly part of the ASTM
International voluntary standard that has been adapted to serve as the CPSC
mandatory rule. Over the past two years industry, consumer advocates and safety
experts have worked to update the voluntary standard to provide real assurances
of a safe product. Prior to the recent rewrite, the most recent significant
changes to the voluntary standard were made in 1999.
The CPSC mandatory standard was last changed in 1982. The
new standards include two sets of similar rules: one for full-size cribs and
one for non-full-size cribs. Non-full-size cribs can be smaller, larger or a
different shape than a full-size crib, which is a standardized shape and size.
"The lack of durability of recently produced cribs is appalling and has put many babies at risk," said Don Mays, senior director of product safety and technical policy for Consumers Union/Consumer Reports. "These new regulations will ensure safe sleep environments by raising the bar for the safety and quality of cribs."
New and used covered
For the first time, this mandatory rule promulgated by CPSC
applies to products already in use by some entities as well as to new products.
Efforts will begin immediately to remove older unsafe products off store
shelves, out of childcare homes, and out of hotels.
The CPSIA includes a section requiring that cribs that don't
meet the new standard can't be sold -- new or used, used in child care, used by
hotel guests, or used in other public accommodations. This measure alone will
go far in removing unsafe cribs from use. This does not apply to already
purchased cribs being used in private homes, except for barring their resale.
Six months after the publication of the standard, all cribs
on the market must be in compliance. The Commission voted to give childcare
facilities and hotels an additional 18 months after that date to replace any
non-compliant cribs. CPSC has indicated that cribs currently being manufactured
and tested that meet the new standard can continue to be used, even though
their sale took place prior to the new rule being official.
"After years of foot dragging by the industry," said Elizabeth Hitchcock of US Public Interest Research Group. "CPSC has now approved a standard and testing regimen that will keep children safe -- avoiding the crib recalls, entrapment deaths and injuries that have plagued the industry."