Furniture Tip-over Standards Under Review

November 4, 2015  by in Industry, Legal   

The executives are members of the ASTM Subcommittee on Furniture Safety, which oversees several voluntary standards for furniture construction. The subcommittee is chaired by Bill Perdue, vice president of regulatory affairs for the American Home Furnishings Alliance, and includes furniture manufacturing engineers as well as representatives from retail companies, testing laboratories and consumer groups.

At its regularly scheduled fall meeting in Conshohocken, Pa., in October, the subcommittee heard proposals from CPSC staff for making the voluntary furniture stability standard more robust—a goal expressed by CPSC Commissioner Marietta Robinson when she spoke at an AHFA-sponsored furniture safety meeting in High Point in August. Arthur Lee, a CPSC engineer who also spoke at the August meeting, presented the proposed changes to the subcommittee last month. They included: 

• Revising the warning label that is currently required by the standard;

• Modifying the introductory language to the standard to clarify the intent of the standard;

• Lowering the height of case goods covered by the standard from 30 inches to 25 inches;

• Increasing the weight used in the required tip-over tests from 50 pounds to 60 pounds;

• Adding a new test method that would include a 100-pound weight applied while the furniture is anchored with an approved tip restraint.

“The subcommittee members were surprised that the proposed changes were not supported by any data or specific rationale,” Perdue said. “Further, the subcommittee has yet to see any data from the CPSC to indicate that the current standard is not sufficient.”

The ASTM furniture safety subcommittee has assigned a separate task force to look into each of the five proposals. Each task force has a chairperson and is charged with concluding, by consensus, whether they agree or disagree that the proposed change is warranted. Any recommended changes must be supported by a data-based rational, Perdue said. The proposals will be considered by the full subcommittee at its next meeting, April 7.

AHFA is addressing the proposed changes in a written response to the CPSC.

The current voluntary furniture stability standard (ASTM F2057) applies to all clothing storage units over 30 inches in height. It requires pieces to pass two stability tests and to carry a warning label. It also requires the manufacturer to ship tip restraints and the instructions for installing them with each piece of furniture covered by the standard.

The first test requires the unit not tip over when all drawers are opened to the “stop” and doors (if any) are opened 90 degrees. The second test requires drawers and/or doors to be opened one at a time and a 50-pound weight to be gradually applied to the outside edge. The 50-pound weight is meant to simulate the weight of a 5-year-old in the 95th percentile. The standard was first passed in 2000 but was updated most recently in 2014.