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USA: CPSC updates safety standard for infant swings

JANUARY 2021 - HARDLINES, TOYS AND CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has published a Direct Final Rule¹ for 16 CFR Part 1223, Safety Standard for Infant Swings, on the Federal Register. 

The Commission accepted the revised safety standard ASTM F2088-20², Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Infant and Cradle Swings, as mandatory without modifications. This rule takes effect from 3 April 2021 unless the CPSC receives any significant or adverse comments by 18 February 2021.

The ASTM standard F2088 includes performance requirements, test methods, and requirements for warning labels and instructional literature, to address hazards to infants associated with infant swings. It does not cover products that are intended to provide sleeping accommodations for the occupant.

The previous version of the 16 CFR 1223 referenced the ASTM F2088-13. ASTM has updated the standard three times since ASTM F2088-13, issuing ASTM F2088-15, -19, and -20. However, ASTM did not notify the Commission of these revised versions until the 2020 version is published.

ASTM F2088-20 includes the changes that ASTM added in the 2015 and 2019 versions. The most significant change was the addition of a new performance requirement in ASTM F2088-19 to address possible entanglement of non-occupant children in exposed tethered straps that connect the underside of the seat to the product’s frame or to other straps. The standard now covers swings with a powered mechanism used to provide a swinging or gliding seat/cradle in any direction relative to the frame. The revised marking and labeling requirements improve the safety by providing clear, direct, and product-specific requirements, and provide consistency across juvenile product standards.

[1]  Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 11
[2]  ASTM F2088-20