CPSC Approves New Federal Safety Standard for High Chairs

June 13, 2018  by Jason Schneider in Business Strategy, Industry   

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.

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.