CPSC Approves New Federal Safety Standard for Bassinets and Cradles

WASHINGTON, D.C. – To prevent deaths and injuries to children, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has approved a new federal mandatory standard to improve the safety of bassinets and cradles.  The vote was 4 to 1.

The new federal standard incorporates provisions in the voluntary standard (ASTM F2194-13), Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Bassinets and Cradles. CPSC staff recommended five modifications to F2194-13 standard. These modifications address risks not adequately covered by the voluntary standard. The modifications include:

1. a clarification of the scope of the bassinet/cradle standard;
 
2. a change to the pass/fail criterion for the mattress flatness test;
 
3. an exemption from the mattress flatness requirement for bassinets that are less than 15 inches across;
 
4. the addition of a removable bassinet bed stability requirement; and
 
5. a change to the stability test procedure, requiring the use of a newborn CAMI dummy rather than an infant CAMI dummy.
  

CPSC received notice of 426 incidents involving bassinet/cradles, including 132 fatalities from November 2007 through March 2013.

The new standard defines “bassinet/cradle” as a small bed designed primarily to provide sleeping accommodations for infants, supported by free standing legs, a stationary frame or stand, a wheeled base, a rocking base, or swing relative to a stationary base. In a stationary (non-rocking or swinging) position, a bassinet/cradle is intended to have a sleep surface less than or equal to 10 degrees from horizontal.

A bassinet/cradle is not intended to be used beyond the age of about 5 months or when a child is able to push up on his hands and knees. Bassinet and cradle attachments for non-full-size cribs or play yards are considered to be part of the bassinet/cradle category, as are bedside sleepers that can be converted to four-sided bassinets not attached to a bed.

The effective date for the mandatory bassinet/cradle standard is 6 months after the final rule is published in the Federal Register. Manufacturers are allowed an additional 12 months to comply with the provision for removable bassinet beds.

Statement of Commissioner Nancy Nord