[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 7, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 20503]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-11121]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 89 / Tuesday, May 7, 1996 / Proposed
Rules
[[Page 20503]]
CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
16 CFR Part 1210
Petition CP 96-1 Requesting a Child-Resistance Standard for
Multi-Purpose Lighters
AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.
ACTION: Petition for rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: Judy L. Carr has petitioned the Commission to begin a
rulemaking proceeding to amend the Safety Standard for Cigarette
Lighters, 16 CFR part 1210, so it would apply to a ``multi-purpose''
lighter. The Commission solicits written comments concerning the
petition from all interested parties.
DATES: Comments on the petition should be received in the Office of the
Secretary by July 8, 1996.
ADDRESSES: Comments on the petition should be mailed to the Office of
the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, DC
20207, telephone (301) 504-0800, or delivered to the Office of the
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, room 502, 4330 East-West
Highway, Bethesda Maryland 20814. Comments should be captioned
``Petition CP 96-1 for Child-Resistant Multi-Purpose Lighters.'' Copies
of the petition are available by writing or calling the Office of the
Secretary.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rockelle S. Hammond, Docket Control
Specialist, Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety
Commission, Washington, DC 20207; telephone: (301) 504-0800 ext. 1232.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Commission has docketed correspondence
from Judy L. Carr as a petition for rulemaking under the Consumer
Product Safety Act (``CPSA''). Ms. Carr asks that the Commission begin
a rulemaking proceeding to amend the Safety Standard for Cigarette
Lighters, 16 C.F.R. Sec. 1210, so that the standard would apply to a
particular ``multi-purpose'' lighter.
This type of product is commonly purchased for lighting charcoal or
gas grills and fireplaces. The particular product referred to by the
petitioner is a butane-fueled lighter with a handle, a trigger for
actuating the lighting mechanism and fuel flow, and a long nose from
which the flame extends. The device has a ``safety'' that can be
manually moved to the ``off'' position to block actuation of the
trigger. If the Commission grants the petition, the rulemaking would
develop a generic description of the product to be regulated, in order
to cover similar products made by others. For the purposes of this
notice, the product category will be referred to as ``multi-purpose
lighters.''
The cigarette lighter safety standard requires that lighters
subject to the standard have child-resistant features to prevent
operation by most children under age 5. The child-resistant mechanism
must reset itself automatically after each operation of the lighter's
ignition mechanism. 16 CFR 1210.3(b)(1). However, multi-purpose
lighters are currently excluded from the cigarette lighter regulation.
See 16 CFR 1210.2(c).
The petition sets forth facts in the form of petitioner's personal
knowledge of an incident involving her children. Petitioner asserts
that her children started a fire while playing with the lighter,
resulting in burns to a 4-year-old girl on over 60% of her body. The
petition also contains information concerning other incidents where
young children started fires using a multi-purpose lighter. That
information was obtained by the petitioner through discovery in
litigation with the product's manufacturer.
The Commission solicits comments on the issues raised by the
petition. The Commission is particularly interested in comments on the
following topics:
1. The types and numbers of multi-purpose lighters currently sold
to consumers;
2. The manufacturers and distributors of the product;
3. The number of persons injured or killed in fires started by
children under the age of 5 years using multi-purpose lighters;
4. The circumstances under which these injuries and deaths occur,
including the ages of the children who started the fires, the ages of
the victims, the locations from which the children obtained the
lighters, and physical descriptions of the products involved (including
identification of the manufacturers and models, if available);
5. Ways in which the products could be modified to be child
resistant;
6. Characteristics of the product that could or should not be used
to define which products might be subject to the requested rule;
7. Other information on the potential costs and benefits of the
requested rule; and
8. Steps that have been taken by industry or others to reduce the
risk of injuries from the product.
Comments on the petition should be received in the Commission's
Office of the Secretary by July 8, 1996. Comments should be captioned
``Petition CP 96-1 for Child-Resistant Multi-Purpose Lighters.''
Interested parties may obtain a copy of the petition by writing or
calling the Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety
Commission, Washington, DC 20207; telephone (301) 504-0800. A copy of
the petition is available for inspection from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, in the Commission's Public Reading Room, room
502, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda Maryland 20814.
Dated: April 29, 1996.
Sayde E. Dunn,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 96-11121 Filed 5-6-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P