CPSC Proposes New Safety Standard for Crib Bumpers and Liners
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is proposing a new children’s product safety standard for crib bumpers and liners. The proposed rule would adopt the most recent voluntary industry standard, ASTM F1917-12, with “substantial modifications that the Commission concludes would further reduce the risk of injury or death from crib bumpers/liners,” CPSC said. If adopted, the new safety standard would take effect six months after publication of the final rule, it said.
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The proposal would define crib bumpers and liners covered by the new standard as “any product intended to be placed against any portion of the interior perimeter of a crib, and that reduces or eliminates an infant’s access to the crib sides, slats, spindles, or the spaces between these components.” These products are “commonly referred to as crib bumpers, crib liners, mesh liners, bumper pads, bumper guards, and headboard panels, but do not include products intended to cover only the top horizontal rail of a crib,” the proposal said.
Among changes to the ASTM voluntary standard are revisions to crib bumper thickness requirements and a new crib bumper firmness and air flow requirements. The proposal would also revise requirements related to attachment points, as well as crib bumper warning content and placement requirements. It would also add new crib bumper instructional literature requirements, CPSC said. The proposed rule would also designate crib bumpers and liners as a “durable infant or toddler product” in CPSC's consumer registration rule, which means manufacturers would have to establish a program for consumer registration of those products.