CPSC Approves New Federal Safety Standard for High Chairs

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- https://cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/2018/CPSC-Approves-New-Federal-Safety-Standard-for-High-Chairs

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has approved a new federal standard intended to improve the safety of all high chairs, including those intended for both home and restaurant use.

The new federal safety standard incorporates the most recent voluntary standard developed by ASTM International (ASTM F404-18, Standard Consumer Safety Specification for High Chairs), with no modifications. The voluntary standard includes requirements for rearward stability and warning labels and requires that high chairs have a passive crotch restraint and a three-point restraint system.

Between January 2011 and September 2017, CPSC received a total of 1,842 incident reports related to high chairs, including 271 injuries. From 2015 through 2016, there were an estimated 18,500 high chair-related injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments, according to CPSC's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS).

Most of the incidents were due to falls when a child attempted to climb into or out of the high chair; when the chair tipped over as a child pushed back or rocked back and forth while seated in the high chair; or when a component (such as the restraint, tray, or lock) of the high chair failed.

The effective date for the new mandatory high chair standard is 12 months after the final rule is published in the Federal Register and applies to products manufactured or imported on or after that date.

The Commission is required by the Danny Keysar Child Product Safety Notification Act, Section 104(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), to issue consumer product safety standards for durable infant or toddler products. The Commission has approved new federal safety standards for several durable infant or toddler products, including full-size cribs, non-full-size cribs, play yards, baby walkers, baby bath seats, children's portable bed rails, strollers, toddler beds, infant swings, handheld infant carriers, soft infant carriers, framed infant carriers, bassinets, cradles, portable hook-on chairs, infant sling carriers and infant bouncer seats.

The Commission voted unanimously (4-0) to approve the standard on June 8, 2018.

About U.S. CPSC:
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction.  Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical or mechanical hazard. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters and household chemicals – contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 40 years.

Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly-announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the Commission.

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SOURCE U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

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