United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission or CPSC) is proposing to revise the existing rule for bassinets/cradles to address the hazards identified in this NPR and ensure that the mandatory bassinet/cradle regulation in part 1218 provides the highest level of safety feasible. The Commission is authorized to issue this NPR pursuant section 104(b)(2) of the CPSIA, 15 U.S.C. 2056a(b)(2), which requires that after the Commission issues mandatory safety standards for durable infant or toddler products, the Commission shall periodically review and revise the standards to ensure that such standards provide the highest level of safety for such products that is feasible. Building on staff’s continued work with ASTM on safe sleep requirements, the Commission is issuing this NPR to adopt ASTM F2194-22 with modifications. The proposed modifications remove the compact bassinet category and address five hazard patterns associated with young infants placed in or on: – Non-level bassinets/cradles (suffocation hazard); – Bassinets/cradles on elevated and soft surfaces such as beds, couches, tables, and countertops (falls, suffocation, skull fractures, and asphyxia hazards); – Mattresses that are non-flat, too thick, too soft, ill-fitting, or unattached to the bassinet/cradle (suffocation hazard); – Bassinets/cradles with design issues, such as low to the ground or unstable, or with loose sidewalls and/or non-mesh sidewalls (containment, tipping, gap entrapment, and suffocation hazards); and – Products with electrical problems such as smoke, shock, and battery leakage (shock and burn). The Commission is also proposing to align the rule’s warnings with ASTM F2194-22 but not to include warnings related solely to compact bassinets. The NPR proposes to require warnings on all bassinets within the scope of the rule. Submit comments by June 17, 2024.
USA – Proposed Rule: Safety Standard for Bassinets and Cradles
