Toy Safety Standards – U.S. Standards

With the holiday season right around the corner, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is bringing the issue of safety of toys and toy imports back into the headlines.   CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum’s current visit to China raises questions again regarding the impact of standards on our imports.

Standards have played an important role here in the U.S.  in keeping children’s products safe since the 1970’s.  We’ll be using the blogs this week to discuss the various standards and regulations we sell at Document Center Inc. that impact toy makers and anyone in the toy industry.

U.S. toy standards are released by ASTM, ANSI and UL.  Here’s a list of these documents:

ASTM-F963, Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Toy Safety:

1. Scope

1.1 This specification relates to possible hazards that may not be recognized readily by the public and that may be encountered in the normal use for which a toy is intended or after reasonably foreseeable abuse. It does not purport to cover every conceivable hazard of a particular toy. This specification does not cover product performance or quality, except as related to safety. Except for the labeling requirements pointing out the functional hazards and age range for which the toy is intended, this specification has no requirements for those aspects of a toy that present an inherent and recognized hazard as part of the function of the toy. Such an example is a sharp point necessary for the function of a needle. The needle is an inherent hazard that is well understood by the purchaser of a toy sewing kit, and this hazard is communicated to the user as part of the normal educational process.

1.2 On the other hand, while a riding toy has inherent hazards associated with its use (for example, falling off onto the sidewalk), the possible hazards associated with its construction (sharp edges, exposed mechanisms, etc.) will be minimized by the application of this specification.

1.3 This specification covers requirements and contains test methods for toys intended for use by children under 14 years of age. Different age limits for various requirements will be found in this specification. These limits reflect the nature of the hazards and expected mental or physical ability, or both, of a child to cope with the hazards.

UL-696, Electric Toys:

1 Scope

1.1 These requirements cover electrically-operated toys including miniatures of full-sized appliances that may not necessarily perform the expected function of the copied appliance and that are intended to be used on nominal 120-volt branch circuits. The package for the toy, including packaging material if intended to be used with the toy, is considered to be a part of the toy and is covered by these requirements. An electric product is considered a toy if it is designed, manufactured, or marketed as a plaything for children over the age of 3.

1.2 For a toy that mimics the form or function of an established general-use appliance, the established requirements applicable to the general-use appliance shall be considered in defining the particular requirements applicable to the toy. Among the considerations that may be applicable are normal and abnormal test conditions. The requirements of the standard covering the general-use appliance shall not reduce the level of requirements addressed by this standard, but shall supplement the content of this standard as appropriate.

1.3 These requirements do not cover toys for outdoor use, sewing machines, flatirons, toys that operate with water, toys that operate with a gas or liquid under pressure (such as a steam engine), toy transformers, or toys intended to operate from the secondary of a toy transformer at a potential of 30 volts rms (42.4 volts peak) or less.

ASTM F1148, Standard Consumer Safety Performance Specification for Home Playground Equipment:

1. Scope

1.1 This consumer safety specification provides safety requirements for various types of home playground equipment intended for use by children aged from over eighteen months through 10 years. It further provides such requirements for swings intended specifically for toddlers. Different age limits for various requirements are found in this specification. These limits reflect the nature of the hazards and the expected mental or physical ability, or both, of the child to cope with the hazards.

1.2 Home playground equipment is defined as any product in which the support structure remains stationary while the activity is taking place and is intended for a child to perform any of the following activities: climbing, swinging, sliding, rocking, spinning, crawling, or creeping, or combination thereof. Fitness equipment is specifically excluded unless attached to the play equipment. This specification is not intended to apply to juvenile care products such as, but not limited to, infant swings, playpens/enclosures, beds, or furniture (including outdoor furniture, such as picnic tables, cradle rockers, activity centers being used as walker substitutes, bouncers, jumpers, infant carriers, and products specifically designed for therapeutic use). This specification is not intended to apply to equipment to be used in places of public assembly such as schools, nurseries, day-care centers, and parks. Equipment intended to be in child-care centers in private homes is not exempt from the requirements of this specification. Such centers are defined as situations in which the child-care provider does not care for more than six children under the age of ten that are not residing in the household of the caregiver, and the total number of children under the age of ten does not exceed ten, including the caregiver’s own children. Electrically operated constant air inflatable devices are exempted from the requirements of this specification.

1.3 Methods of identifying products that comply with this consumer safety specification are given. The illustrations of home playground equipment shown in Figs. A1.1-A1.4 are for informational purposes only and are not intended to limit or endorse certain types of playground equipment or equipment features. These illustrations are not intended to limit the variety or various combinations of equipment that are covered by this consumer safety specification.

1.4 The purpose of this specification is to reduce the likelihood of life-threatening or debilitating injuries.

1.5 If toy accessories or toy chests are attached to home playground equipment, they are applicable to this consumer safety specification and to any other applicable safety standards.

ANSI Z315.1, American National Standard for Tricycles:

This standard covers the safety requirements for all tricycles intended for use by children 8 years and under.

ASTM F834, Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Toy Chests:

1. Scope

1.1 This consumer safety specification covers the performance requirements and test methods to ensure the safety of toy chests.

1.2 This consumer safety specification is intended to minimize the accidents and injuries to children resulting from normal use and reasonably foreseeable misuse or abuse of toy chests.

1.3 For the purposes of this consumer safety specification, these requirements apply to products known as toy chests or toy boxes that are designed and marketed as storage containers for toys. The products subject to the requirements are those with a volume of 1.1 ft3 (0.031 m3) or more.

1.4 No toy chest or toy box produced after the approval date of this consumer safety specification shall, either by label or other means, indicate compliance with this specification unless it conforms to all requirements contained herein.

ASTM F1313, Standard Specification for Volatile N-Nitrosamine Levels in Rubber Nipples on Pacifiers:

This specification applies to the nitrosamine content of rubber used in the manufacture of nipples for infant pacifiers. This specification is intended for use in reducing the normal exposure to nitrosamines. Methylene chloride extraction method shall be used to determine the nitrosamine levels.

All 6 of these standards and more are available at the Document Center Inc. website, www.document-center.com, and by phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) and email (info@document-center.com).  Please contact us if there are any questions about toy and safety standards.