Author: Marianne Halterman

Whether At Home or Traveling for the Holidays CPSC Reminds Parents to Keep Babies’ Sleep Space Safe

CPSC Joins Members of Congress, Safety Advocates at Chicago Lurie Children’s Hospital

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With the holiday season fast approaching and families preparing to gather, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is teaming up with members of Congress and safety advocates to remind adults to keep the little ones safe – whether at home or at grandma’s house – by always creating a safe sleep space.

Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric joined pediatric experts from Lurie Children’s Hospital and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), child safety advocates from Kids in Danger (KID), Safe Kids Worldwide, and Consumer Federation of America, and Members of Congress to raise awareness of the best safe sleep practices for babies and highlight new laws and regulations aimed at creating a safer marketplace to keep all babies safe.

“I’m excited to be working alongside these trusted collaborators to expand our reach and provide parents, grandparents, and caregivers with the best safe sleep practices for their babies during the holidays and all year,” said CPSC Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric. “Together we can reduce these tragic deaths and injuries and create a safer marketplace.”

This event was held following a year of aggressive Congressional and CPSC action to protect babies from product hazards.  These steps include:

• Infant Sleep Products Rule. CPSC’s Infant Sleep Products Rule went into effect in June 2022, and requires all new infant sleep products to have a sleep surface angle of 10 degrees or lower and to meet at least one of the existing standards for sleep products: bassinets and cradles, play yards, or cribs.

Since the rule went into effect, CPSC has sent more than 125 letters to businesses to alert them of their obligation to comply with the new requirements; and, in more than 70 instances, specific infant sleep products were identified that could be subject to the rule. Subsequently, 26 products were removed from sale, helping to protect consumers. Additionally, CPSC has recently issued a notice to one firm, Dock-a-tot, for manufacturing a non-compliant infant sleep product after June 23, 2022, an apparent violation of the ISP rule.

• Safe Sleep for Babies Act. CPSC has written to retailers, including e-commerce platforms, urging them to comply with the requirements of the Safe Sleep for Babies Act, which was enacted into law this summer, and goes into effect on November 12^th.  The Act bans padded crib bumpers and inclined sleep products, regardless of date of manufacture. Last week, CPSC wrote to 45 retailers urging them to comply with these requirements with respect to crib bumpers, and CPSC will be monitoring the market for inclined products.  
• Additional safety measures. In addition to these steps forward on infant sleep products, major steps were taken to improve the marketplace for baby safety.  Congress recently enacted Reese’s Law, aimed at protecting children from hazardous button cell batteries.  CPSC also issued final rules establishing safety standards for crib mattresses, magnets, window coverings, and clothing storage units.

“Being a new parent can be hard enough and keeping our newborns safe is a goal we all share. Thanks to the dedication of my colleagues, the dynamic leadership of U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric, and the urgency to protect our children, President Biden was able to sign into law multiple pieces of legislation that will protect babies and promote safe sleep practices,” said Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. “Nearly 200 deaths have been linked to crib bumpers and infant inclined sleep products. Thanks to the Safe Sleep for Babies Act, which I introduced with Rep. Tony Cárdenas, these dangerous products will be banned, providing families with the peace of mind they deserve when purchasing new products for their newborns.”

“I’m glad CPSC Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric will be traveling to Chicago to raise awareness around the dangers families may not be aware of during the holiday season,” said Congresswoman Robin Kelly. “Recent CPSC actions against infant sleeping products have been key to ensuring businesses are removing harmful products and babies are kept safe. Additionally, while the recent passage of my bill, Reese’s Law, will help ensure future products with button batteries are safer; many homes have remotes, holiday decorations, and toys that contain button batteries and can be easily opened, and pose life threatening injuries if the batteries are ingested.”

CPSC’s latest nursery product injury and death report shows most nursery-product infant deaths occurred in a cluttered sleep space, when soft bedding was added to the cribs, playpens/play yards or bassinets/cradles. On average there are almost 100 infant deaths annually in unsafe sleep environments involving nursery products.  CPSC is reminding caregivers to follow these practices to keep babies’ sleep space safe:

1. Back to Sleep: Always place the baby to sleep on their back to reduce the risk of sudden unexpected infant death syndrome (SUID/SIDS) and suffocation.
2. Bare is Best: Always keep the baby’s sleep space bare (fitted sheet only) to prevent suffocation. Do not use pillows, padded crib bumpers, quilts or comforters.
3. Transfer the baby to a firm, flat crib, bassinet, play yard or bedside sleeper if they fall asleep in a swing, bouncer, lounger, or similar product.
4. Inclined products, such as rockers, gliders, soothers, and swings should never be used for infant sleep, and infants should not be left in these products unsupervised, unrestrained, or with soft bedding material, due to the risk of suffocation.

RECALLS: Always check to see if any purchased baby nursery products have been recalled, which includes any secondhand products.  Remember, babies rely on adults to keep them safe. Sign up today at CPSC.gov.

[CPSC News Release dated 10/19/2022]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has approved a new federal mandatory safety standard for clothing storage units (CSUs) that will significantly change the way clothing storage units are tested and labeled. Young children are most at risk of injury or death from tip over incidents with this type of furniture, which includes products such as chests, bureaus, dressers, armoires, wardrobes, chests of drawers, drawer chests, chifforobes and door chests.      

CPSC staff is aware of 234 fatalities resulting from clothing storage unit tip overs from January 2000 through April 2022, including 199 child fatalities.  Staff estimates that there were 84,100 tip-over-related injuries (an estimated annual average of 5,300 injuries) with CSUs treated in a U.S. hospital emergency department from 2006 through 2021.  Of these, staff estimates that 72 percent were injuries to children.  From January 2000 through July 2022, there have been 43 recalls in response to tip-over hazards of CSUs, involving more than 21 million units.

“Each year, children are killed or injured in dresser tipover incidents. The standard set today will ensure that dressers are safer and fewer children are at risk,” said CPSC Chairman Alex Hoehn-Saric. “I want to thank the members of Parents Against Tipovers and other consumer advocates who have spent years pushing the agency to set a strong standard that will protect children going forward. I am pleased that the CPSC was able to achieve that goal and commend the staff for their hard work and dedication.”

The new standard would require CSUs to exceed minimum stability requirements and display important safety information and performance and technical data. The stability requirements reflect real-world factors, like multiple open drawers, drawers containing clothing-representative loads, angling CSUs to replicate the effects of placement on carpet and forces a child exerts while climbing or pulling on a CSU, all of which are shown to occur during CSU tip overs and contribute to their instability.

The standard also includes test methods for CSUs with interlocks.  Interlocks can improve CSU stability, by preventing all drawers from being opened at once. In addition to the stability requirements, the new standard requires that CSUs are marked and labeled with safety and identification information and display a hang tag providing performance and technical data about the product’s stability.

CPSC’s Anchor It! campaign works to raise awareness of the dangers to children from furniture tip overs.  See www.anchorit.gov for more information on how to prevent tip-over incidents and save children’s lives.

The Commission voted 3 to 1 to approve the standard on October 19, 2022. It takes effect 180 days after it is published in the Federal Register.

CPSC Chair and Commissioner Statements: 

Chair Hoehn-Saric Statement

Commissioner Feldman Statement

Commissioner Trumka Statement

Commissioner Boyle Statement

Check Baby’s Sleep Space for Suffocation Hazards; Most Nursery Product-Related Infant Deaths Can Be Prevented

(This Public Service Announcement is reproduced from the CDC: https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/2022/CPSC-Urges-Parents-Caregivers-to-Use-Products-that-Are-Safe-for-Sleep-Check-Babys-Sleep-Space-for-Suffocation-Hazards-Most-Nursery-Product-Related-Infant-Deaths-Can-Be-Prevented)

Release Date: September 15, 2022

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On average there are almost 100 infant deaths annually in unsafe sleep environments involving nursery products. During Baby Safety Month (September), the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is urging parents and caregivers to put their babies to sleep only in products that are safe for sleep–such as bassinets, cribs and play yards.  Babies who fall asleep in other locations should be moved to a crib, bassinet or play yard.  The CPSC also urges caregivers to remove soft bedding suffocation hazards including blankets, pillows and stuffed toys, from baby’s sleep space because most nursery product-related infant deaths can be prevented. CPSC’s latest nursery product injury and death report shows most nursery-product infant deaths occurred in a cluttered sleep space, when soft bedding was added to the cribs, playpens/play yards or bassinets/cradles.   

CPSC’s latest data show that between 2016 and 2018, an annual average of:

• 87 deaths were associated with cribs, playpens/play yards, and bassinets/cradles, most of which were associated with the presence of extra bedding, such as pillows, blankets and/or comforters; and 
• 8 deaths were associated with inclined sleep products.

“What is comfortable for the way adults sleep, isn’t safe for babies,” said CPSC Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric. “Bare is best–a firm, flat surface in a crib, bassinet or play yard, without blankets, pillows, or other items.  If you are worried about your baby getting cold, use warm pajamas–not blankets.”

To keep baby’s sleep space safe:

1. Back to Sleep: Always place the baby to sleep on their back to reduce the risk of sudden unexpected infant death syndrome (SUID/SIDS) and suffocation.
2. Bare is Best: Always keep the baby’s sleep space bare (fitted sheet only) to prevent suffocation. Do not use pillows, padded crib bumpers, quilts or comforters.  
3. Transfer the baby to a firm, flat crib, bassinet, play yard or bedside sleeper if they fall asleep in a swing, bouncer, lounger or similar product. 
4. Inclined products, such as rockers, gliders, soothers and swings should never be used for infant sleep, and infants should not be left in these products unsupervised, unrestrained, or with soft bedding material, due to the risk of suffocation. 

As CPSC approaches its 50th anniversary, we are committed to protecting our most vulnerable population with the implementation of a new infant sleep products rule. This requires any product marketed or intended for sleep to meet one or more of the federal safety standards for cribs (full-size and non-full-size), bassinets and cradles, play yards, or bedside sleepers.  If the product does not already meet one of these regulations, then it must meet the safety standard for bassinets and cradles. 

RECALLS: Always check to see if any purchased baby nursery products have been recalled, which includes any secondhand products.  Remember, babies rely on adults to keep them safe. Sign up today at CPSC.gov.

For more tips on baby safety, recalled baby products and to view CPSC’s newest baby safety public service announcement, visit CPSC’s Safe Sleep and Crib Safety Education Center here.

Release Number

22-216

Child Passenger Safety Week is September 18-24, 2022

National Seat Check Saturday is September 24, 2022

Car crashes are a leading cause of death for children, according to the latest NHTSA data. A child is involved in a crash while riding in a passenger vehicle, on average, every 25 seconds. When installed correctly, car seats can reduce the risk of fatal injury in a crash by 71% for infants and by 54% for toddlers. On average, two children under 13 were killed and an estimated 374 were injured every day in 2019 while riding in cars, SUVs, pickups, and vans.

• 608 child passenger vehicle occupants died in traffic crashes in 2019.
• 38% of children who died in 2019 while riding in passenger vehicles were unrestrained, compared to 33% in 2018.