CPSC [Chemical Processing Safety Committee] to address another bunk bed issue

After spending years of staff time studying the issue of the potential hazards of bunk beds, and ultimately adopting a mandatory role in 1999, CPSC is revisiting bunk-bed hazards.

This time the issue is whether there should be a government role to address the hazard of strangulation posed by bunk-bed corner posts. CPSC received a petition from the Danny Foundation on the matter. Comments are due Jan. 7, 3002.

The Danny Foundation was founded by a family whose child was injured by strangulation on a crib corner post. While that hazard has been addressed by regulation, the foundation has now turned its sights on perceived hazards of similar accidents on bunk bed corner posts. The alleged hazard is that children may catch parts of clothing on the posts and fall, causing strangulation. The foundation cited 14 such deaths since 1993.

Since CPSC undertook responsibility for regulating bunk beds with the adoption of a mandatory rule in December 1999, (4) voluntary activity on a bunk bed standard has waned.

During the period of most intense activity by the ASTM subcommittee on bunk beds, (approximately 1980 through 1999) there were constant rounds of changes being made to the standard. As word of new incidents occurred, the committee was able to modify the standard to address the potential hazard--even when there was only one incident in the data.

In fact, former CPSC Chairman Ann Brown in 1996 awarded the "Chairman's Commendation for Significant Contributions to Product Safety" to the American Furniture Manufacturers Association (AFMA) for its efforts to make bunk beds safer. Brown cited AFMA's leadership in developing the bunk bed voluntary standard. (5)

But later, when CPSC adopted the mandatory bunk bed standard in 1999, it failed to address some other issues on which the voluntary standards group had worked, i.e., structural integrity of the bed, the issue of unusual mattress sizes, and other related safety issues. A joint appeal by industry and the CFA urging CPSC to include those issues in the mandatory rule was rejected.

This example of the rigidity of government standard setting demonstrates why the voluntary standard approach is nearly always preferable. If the consensus group that developed the first bunk bed standard were active, it would not take long to address the corner post issue--if indeed there is a problem. On the other hand, CPSC's procedure for amending the current role will require lots more federal time and dollars. Stay tuned.

(4) "A Bad Week for Voluntary Standards at CPSC: Commissioners Vote 2-1 to Adopt Mandatory Bunk Bed Rule," CPSC Monitor, December 1999, Vol. 2, Issue 12.

(5) "CPSC Chairman Awards Safety Commendation to American Furniture Manufacturers Association," news release from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, May 16, 1996, Washington, DC.

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