CPSC Approves New Federal Standard for Child Carriers

Tuesday, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced it approved a new federal safety standard for certain child carriers.

The carriers are worn on the back of a caregiver and often used for hiking, resembling mountaineering backpacks.

The carrier is made of sewn fabric on tubular metal or another frame.

It’s designed to carry a child who weighs between 16 and 50 pounds and can sit upright.
But there have been 34 incidents where a child was injured.

The new safety standard is intended to fix potentially dangerous parts of the carrier such as:

  • Sharp points
  • Small parts
  • Lead in paint
  • Flammability requirements
  • Scissoring, shearing, pinching
  • Openings
  • Exposed coil springs
  • Locking and latching (for carriers that fold for storage)
  • Unintentional folding (for carriers with kick stands that can stand freely)
  • Labeling
  • Protective components
  • Structural integrity
  • Leg openings (to help prevent smaller occupants from falling out of the carrier through a single leg opening)
  • Dynamic strength (tests the frame, fasteners, and seams/stitching under dynamic conditions to help prevent breakage or separation)
  • Static load (ensures the carrier can hold three times the maximum recommended weight) 
  • Stability (for carriers that can stand freely)
  • Restraints (requires that all carriers have a restraint system and also provides a method for testing the restraints)
  • Handle integrity (helps prevent the handle from breaking or separating when it is pulled with three times the maximum recommended weight).

The mandatory frame child carrier standard will take effect 18 months after it appears in the Federal Register where government agency rules are published.

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