The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has proposed new safety rules for infant rockers, citing 11 deaths, 88 injuries and 1,088 incidents between 2011 and 2022, primarily during infant sleep.
Proposed safety guidelines The message sent to CPSC commissioners is intended to ensure that infant rockers are sturdy and flat enough to prevent suffocation, pass stability tests, prevent strangulation from hanging straps, and prevent their use for sleeping. To feature prominent warning labels to discourage and warn against adding soft bedding.
According to the CPSC, while commissioners are scheduled to meet on October 4 to decide whether to adopt the recommendations, the proposed rule would apply to all infant rockers and infant and toddler rockers, including “multi-mode products with a rocker mode.” Are included. Adding weight limits for each product and terminology to define “rocking”.
Nine of the 11 deaths recorded occurred when infants were placed in the products for sleep or napping, and six incidents involved the presence of soft bedding or pillows near or on top of the babies, which could pose a suffocation risk. Is.
But the blame isn’t solely on the rockers, as the CPSC says six infants were not strapped into the rockers and were later found upside down, in one incident involving a 3-month-old girl placed in a broken rocker. . Support was being provided from a shoe box.
currently, standard requirements Bouncer or rocker seats are quite limited for infants. They mainly focus on ensuring child strap safety, stability, slip resistance, successful completion of the drop test, presence of a safe toy bar system, and functional battery. However, these standards do not include warnings about possible injury or death.
The CPSC says 567,500 rockers are sold annually, and manufacturers could face costs of about $80,000 per model for the redesign, potentially a total of $1.36 million if their existing products don’t already meet the new requirements.