CPSC Final Rule Adopts Revised Safety Standard for Portable Bed Rails for Kids
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a final rule that effective August 29, 2012 amends 16 CFR Part 1224 to reference a revised mandatory consumer product safety standard for portable bed rails that are installed on the side of an adult bed and/or on the mattress surface to keep children from falling out of bed. The revised mandatory standard is ASTM F 2085-12, “Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Portable Bed Rails,” which was developed jointly by CPSC and ASTM. The CPSC's predecessor standard was ASTM F2085-10a.
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The final rule adopting ASTM F2085-12 as a mandatory regulation is effective for products manufactured on or after August 29, 2012. (Note that ASTM approved the revised standard on January 1, 2012.)
(The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) requires CPSC to promulgate consumer product safety standards for durable infant or toddler products, including portable bed rails. These standards are to be “substantially the same as” applicable voluntary standards or more stringent than the voluntary standard if CPSC concludes that more stringent requirements would further reduce the risk of injury associated with the product.)
ASTM F 2085-12 Is More Stringent than 2010 Version
The final rule adopts the ASTM F 2085-12 portable bed rail standard as a CPSC mandatory standard, and has the following features that are more stringent than its 2010 version (partial list):
Adds foam & inflatable bed rails. The new standard adds non-rigid (including foam and inflatable) portable bed rails to the ASTM's scope. However, non-rigid portable bed rails would only have to meet the General Requirements of section 5 of the standard; the performance requirement of section 6.3, Enclosed Openings; and the warning statements of section 9.3. This is because the rest of the standard's requirements address hazards associated with rigid materials.
Installation and Misassembly. ASTM F208-12 requires captive hardware to ensure that fasteners remain attached to their respective components before normal assembly and after normal disassembly. It also provides a means for determining misassembled portable bed rails that is similar to the proposed rule, but targets specific misassembled portable bed rail scenarios, such as missing horizontal components, fastening the fabric mesh without engaging a horizontal bar, and assembling parts to the wrong components or inverted components.
Warning labels. The new standard contains new warning requirements for instructional literature and labels, and lists the exact wording (regarding suffocation, strangulation, entrapment and other hazards) that is needed, as well as the additional language needed for manufacturers' specific bed rails. All manufacturers will need to modify existing warning labels; however costs associated with the new warning label are expected to be low for most manufacturers.
CPSC to Soon Issue Notice of Requirements for Accreditation Bodies
CPSC states it intends to issue a notice of requirements in the near future to explain how accredited laboratories can become recognized by CPSC as third party conformity assessments bodies to test to the new portable bed rails standard. Such tests form the basis for the CPSC's certification requirements for children's products such as these portable bed rails.
(The agency also notes that these portable bed rails must comply with all other applicable CPSC requirements, such as the lead content and phthalates content requirements in sections 101 and 108 of the CPSIA; the tracking label requirement in section 14(a)(5) of the CPSA; and the consumer registration form requirements in section 104 of the CPSIA.)
1Both ASTM F 2085-10a and new ASTM F 2085-12 define a “portable bed rail” as a “portable railing installed on the side of an adult bed and/or on the mattress surface which is intended to keep a child from falling out of bed.” The scope of the ASTM standard also states that a portable bed rail “is as a device intended to be installed on an adult bed to prevent children from falling out of bed.” Portable bed rails are intended for children (typically from 2 to 5 years of age) who can get in and out of an adult bed unassisted. They include bed rails that only have a vertical plane that presses against the side of the mattress but does not extend over it (referred to as “adjacent type bed rails”), as well as bed rails that extend over the sleeping surface of the mattress (called “mattress-top bed rails”).
(See ITT's Online Archives 12022311 for summary of CPSC's approval of this new mandatory standard and overview of its changes. See ITT's Online Archives 11041122 for summary of CPSC proposed rule on portable bed rails.)
CPSC Contact - Rohit Khanna (301) 504-7546 (email) rkhanna@cpsc.gov.
(FR Pub 02/29/12, D/N CPSC-2011-0019)