[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 131 (Friday, July 9, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 37051-37064]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-17087]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

16 CFR Parts 1213, 1500, and 1513


Bunk Beds; Request for Additional Comment

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (``CPSC'' or 
``Commission'') previously proposed a rule that would mandate bunk bed 
performance requirements to reduce the hazard of children being 
entrapped in the beds' structures or becoming wedged between a bed and 
a wall. 64 FR 10245 (March 3, 1999).
    After the original proposal, discussions at meetings of a voluntary 
standards group (ASTM) indicated that requirements in addition to those 
proposed are needed to adequately address fatalities due to entrapment 
of children's necks in the end structures of bunk beds. Such 
requirements are proposed in this notice, and would be in addition to 
the requirements previously proposed. The Commission solicits written 
and oral comments from interested persons. Comments must be limited to 
issues raised by the additional requirements in this notice.

DATES: Written comments in response to this proposal must be received 
by the Commission by September 22, 1999. If requests for oral 
presentations of comments are received, the presentations will begin at 
10 a.m., July 29, 1999, in Room 420 in the Commission's offices at 4330 
East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814.
    Requests to present oral comments must be received by July 15, 
1999. Persons requesting an oral presentation must file a written text 
of their presentations no later than July 22, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Written comments, and requests to make oral presentations of 
comments, should be mailed, preferably in five copies, to the Office of 
the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, D.C. 
20207-0001, or delivered to the Office of the Secretary, Consumer 
Product Safety Commission, Room 502, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, 
Maryland; telephone (301) 504-0800. Comments also may be filed by 
telefacsimile to (301) 504-0127 or by email to [email protected]. 
Written comments should be captioned ``NPR for Bunk Beds.'' Requests to 
make oral presentations and texts of presentations should be captioned 
``Oral Comment; NPR for Bunk Beds.''

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Concerning the substance of the 
proposed rule: John Preston, Project Manager, Directorate for 
Engineering Sciences, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, 
D.C. 20207-0001; telephone (301) 504-0494, ext. 1315; email 
[email protected].
    Concerning requests and procedures for oral presentations of 
comments: Rockelle Hammond, Docket Control and Communications 
Specialist, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, DC 20207; 
telephone: (301) 504-0800 ext. 1232. Information about this rulemaking 
proceeding may also be found on the Commission's web site: 
www.cpsc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background

    Without proper guardrails and safe dimensions for openings in the 
bed's structure, a bunk bed may allow a child to be entrapped, and thus 
strangle or suffocate. This can occur when the child becomes wedged 
between the wall and the bed, when the child slips his or her torso 
through an opening that is too small for its head to pass through, or 
when the child places its head in an opening, then moves to a narrower 
area of the opening where the head cannot pull out, and then falls or 
loses his/her footing.
    There is a voluntary standard for bunk beds, ASTM F1427-96, that 
contains provisions to protect children from entrapment. The ASTM 
standard requires:
     That there be guardrails on both sides of the upper bunk, 
except for up to 15 inches at each end of the bed;
     That openings in the structure surrounding the upper bunk 
be small enough to prevent passage of a tapered block having a base 
measuring 3.5 inches by 6.2 inches (representing a child's torso) (See 
Fig. 1); and
     That openings in the end structures within 9 inches above 
the sleeping surface of the lower bunk mattress be either small enough 
to prevent passage of the 3.5 by 6.2 inch block or large enough to 
permit passage of a 9-inch diameter sphere (the space needed to 
withdraw a child's head).
    Because of continued reports of deaths and other incidents 
associated with bunk beds, and because of indications there may not be 
adequate compliance with the voluntary ASTM standard, the CPSC 
published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (``ANPR'') to begin 
a rulemaking proceeding that could result in performance or other 
standards to address the risk of entrapment associated with bunk beds. 
63 FR 3280 (January 22, 1998). After considering the comments received 
in response to the ANPR, the Commission voted 2-1 to publish a notice 
of proposed rulemaking (``NPR'') to propose a new 16 CFR part 1213 
under the Consumer Product Safety Act (``CPSA'') and a new 16 CFR part 
1513 under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (``FHSA''). 64 FR 10245 
(March 3, 1999).
    The entrapment requirements in these proposed rules are identical 
to those in the ASTM standard, with the following exceptions.
    1. Definition of a bunk bed: A bed in which the underside of any 
foundation is over 30 inches from the floor. In the ASTM standard, a 
bunk bed is defined as a bed in which the underside of the foundation 
is over 35 inches from the floor.
    2. Guardrails: The Commission proposed that one guardrail shall be 
continuous between each of the bed's end structures. The other 
guardrail may terminate before reaching the bed's end structures, 
providing there is no more than 15 inches between either end of the 
guardrail and the nearest bed end structure. The current ASTM standard 
permits both guardrails to end 15 inches from the nearest bed end 
structure.
    3. Lower bunk end structures: The Commission proposed that there 
shall be no openings in the end structures between the underside of the 
foundation of the upper bunk and the upper side of the foundation of 
the lower bunk that will permit the free passage of the wedge block 
shown in Fig. 1 of the NPR (representing a child's torso) unless the 
openings are also large enough to permit the free passage of a 9-inch 
diameter sphere (to ensure the head can also pass through). In the ASTM 
standard, these passage requirements apply only to that portion of the 
end structure that is between the level of the lower bunk foundation 
support system and 9.0 inches (230 mm) above the sleeping surface of 
the maximum thickness mattress and foundation combined as recommended 
by the manufacturer.
    In the fatal incidents of entrapment in the end structures of bunk 
beds where sufficient information was available, three occurred on beds 
that met the entrapment requirements in the ASTM standard. Of these, 
two involved entrapment in the upper bunk. In those two incidents, an 
18-month-old infant and a child who was almost 5 years old slipped 
through the space between the end of the guardrail and the bed end 
structure and became wedged between the bed and a wall. These deaths 
are addressed in the original proposal by the requirement that one 
guardrail extend continuously between the bed's end structures. In the 
third incident, a 22-month-old child became entrapped by the head in an 
opening between the underside of the upper bunk foundation support and 
a curved structural member in the bunk-bed end structure. The 
Commission intended to address this death in the previous proposal by 
requiring that the torso probe in Fig. 1 be applied to all areas of the 
end

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structure between the underside of the foundation of the upper bunk and 
the upper side of the foundation of the lower bunk. If the torso probe 
freely passes through an opening, the opening must also be large enough 
to permit the free passage of a 9-inch sphere, to allow head 
withdrawal.
    After the original proposal, ASTM discussed whether to change the 
requirement in the ASTM standard addressing entrapment in lower bunk 
end structures to make it the same as that in the Commission's proposed 
rule. When ASTM members and CPSC staff discussed the details of the 
entrapment death of a 22-month-old child in a lower bunk end structure, 
mentioned above, it appeared that the opening in the structure of the 
metal bunk bed that was involved in the fatality could still present an 
entrapment hazard, even if it were modified to comply with the proposed 
requirement. The relevant portions of the bunk's end structure are 
shown in Figure A below.

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    It is likely that this child placed his head through the wide 
portion of the opening then moved sideways until his neck was in the 
narrow portion of the opening. (A 22-month-old child's head is too 
large to go through the narrow portion of the opening.) After placing 
his neck into the narrow opening, his feet apparently slipped off the 
mattress of the lower bunk, suspending him by his head, and he 
strangled. Thus, the incident was a head-first neck entrapment, rather 
than a torso-first neck entrapment that would be addressed by the probe 
in Fig. 1 of the proposed standard.
    For this bed to conform to the originally proposed requirement, the 
vertical dimension of the wider portion of the opening would have to be 
greater than 9 inches and the vertical dimension of the narrower 
portion would have to be less than 3\1/2\ inches (see Figure B). 
However, since a 22-month-old child's neck is significantly less than 
3\1/2\ inches in diameter, the child could still become entrapped in 
the head-first manner described above.

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    There are two ways to modify the bed to prevent this type of 
entrapment. First, a vertical bar could be added to separate the wide 
and narrow portions of the opening (see Figure C). Second, the vertical 
dimension of the narrow portion of the opening could be reduced to less 
than 1\7/8\ inches, which is considered sufficient to prevent entry of 
the neck of a 5th percentile 2 year-old, accounting for tissue 
compression (see Figure D).

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B. The New Requirement

    In order to protect against head-first entrapment in a bed's end 
structure, the Commission's staff developed a test procedure using the 
template shown in Fig. 2 to proposed Parts 1213 and 1513. This template 
and procedure are similar to those that were developed to address neck 
entrapment hazards in playground equipment structures and that are 
specified in ASTM F 1487-98, ``Standard Specification for Playground 
Equipment for Public Use.'' Any portion of an opening in the bed's end 
structure below the foundation of the upper bunk that is required to be 
probed by the wedge-block probe shown in Figure 1 to proposed parts 
1213 and 1513, and that will allow free passage of a 9-inch diameter 
sphere, must satisfy the new neck entrapment provisions proposed in 
this notice.
    The template of Figure 2 embodies the following principles. First, 
a child will not be able to insert his or her neck sideways into an 
opening of less than 1.88 inches. (This dimension represents the neck 
breadth of 2.5 inches for a 5th percentile 2-year-old child, minus an 
allowance of 0.62 inches for tissue compression.)
    Second, there is a minimal likelihood of entrapment when the 
boundaries of an opening converge on the neck at an included angle of 
greater than 75 degrees. See CPSC memorandum from Shelley Waters Deppa 
to John Preston, ``Voluntary Standards for Gates and Enclosures,'' 
January 15, 1985. This angle was chosen to exclude the angles involved 
in neck entrapment accidents with baby gates and expandable enclosures.
    In addition, in some boundary configurations, a child who slips 
while his/her head is in the opening will be removed from the opening 
by the force of gravity. In the proposed procedure, an opening that 
indicates a neck entrapment potential when tested with the template of 
Figure 2 is nevertheless allowed if its lower boundary slopes downward 
at 45 degrees or more for the whole distance from the narrowest part of 
the opening the neck can reach to the part of the opening that will 
freely pass a 9-inch diameter sphere.
    The template is used to protect against head-first entrapment as 
follows. First, all portions of the boundary of the opening are probed 
with the ``A'' section of the test template of Fig. 2. The template is 
inserted into the opening, with the plane of the template in the plane 
of the opening and with the ``top'' of the template perpendicular to 
the centerline of the portion of the boundary being probed. The 
template is then moved along the centerline of the portion of the 
boundary being probed until it is stopped by contact with the 
boundaries of the opening (see Fig. 3).
    If there is simultaneous contact between the boundary of the 
opening and both sides of the ``A'' section of the template, the 
boundary is converging on a potential neck entrapment point at an angle 
of less than 75 degrees, and further investigation is required. 
(Contact with one or both upper corners of the template is not 
considered to be contact with a ``side''.)
    To check further for the potential for neck entrapment, place the 
neck portion of the ``B'' section of the template into the opening, 
with the template's plane perpendicular to both the plane of the 
opening and the centerline of the opening (see Fig. 4). If the neck 
portion can completely enter the opening (pass 0.75 inch or more beyond 
the points where contact with the sides of the ``A'' section of the 
template occurred), the

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opening may present a neck entrapment hazard. Such an opening is not 
allowed unless the lower boundary of the opening slopes downward at 45 
degrees or more for the whole distance from the narrowest part of the 
opening the neck can reach to the larger (greater than 9-inch) part of 
the opening.

C. Preliminary Regulatory Analysis

    The CPSA and FHSA require the Commission to publish a preliminary 
regulatory analysis of the proposed rule and its reasonable 
alternatives. This includes a discussion of the likely benefits and 
costs of the proposed rule and its reasonable alternatives. The 
Commission's preliminary regulatory analysis was published in the 
January 29, 1999, proposal. The additional requirement proposed in this 
notice does not significantly affect the results of that analysis. This 
new requirement would result in negligible additional costs to 
manufacturers, and its benefits would be small due to the small number 
of incidents.

D. Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (``RFA'') requires the 
Commission to address and give particular attention to the economic 
effects of the proposed rule on small entities. The original proposal's 
preliminary regulatory flexibility analysis concluded that the rule 
proposed at that time would not have a significant adverse effect on a 
substantial number of small entities. Because the additional 
requirement being proposed in this notice will not significantly 
increase the cost to manufacturers, the Commission certifies that the 
rule will not, if promulgated, have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities.

E. Preliminary Environmental Assessment

    The proposed rule is not expected to have a significant effect on 
the materials used in the production and packaging of bunk beds, or in 
the number of units discarded after the rule becomes effective. 
Therefore, no significant environmental effects would result from the 
proposed mandatory rule for bunk beds.

F. Opportunities for Comment

    Written comments limited to the issues raised by the additional 
requirement proposed in this notice may be submitted until September 
22, 1999. There also will be an opportunity for interested parties to 
present oral comments on these issues on July 29, 1999. See the 
information under the headings DATES and ADDRESSES at the beginning of 
this notice. Any oral comments will be part of the rulemaking record.
    Persons presenting oral comments should limit their presentations 
to approximately 10 minutes, exclusive of any periods of questioning by 
the Commissioners or the CPSC staff. The Commission reserves the right 
to further limit the time for any presentation and to impose 
restrictions to avoid excessive duplication of presentations.

List of Subjects in 16 CFR Parts 1213, 1500, and 1513

    Consumer protection, Infants and children.

    Effective date. The Commission originally proposed that the rule 
become effective 180 days after publication of the final rule. The 
Commission believes that the additional requirement proposed in this 
notice will cause only minor changes to presently produced bunk beds. 
Accordingly, manufacturers should still be able to make any 
modification to their bunk beds within the 180-day delayed effective 
date originally proposed.
    In the Federal Register of March 3, 1999, the Commission proposed 
to amend Title 16, Chapter II, Subchapters B and C, of the Code of 
Federal Regulations by adding parts 1213 and 1513 and amending part 
1500. For the reasons set out in the preamble, the Commission proposes 
the following additions to that proposal, as set forth below.

PART 1213--[AMENDED]

    1. The authority citation for part 1213 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 2056, 2058.


Sec. 1213.3  [Amended]

    2. A new Sec. 1213.3(b)(4) is added to read as follows:
* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (4) All portions of the boundary of any opening required by 
Secs. 1213.4(c)(1) and (2) to be probed by the wedge block of Fig. 1 
this part, and that permits free passage of a 9-inch diameter sphere, 
must conform to the neck entrapment requirements of Sec. 1213.4(c)(3).


Sec. 1213.4  [Amended]

    3. A new Sec. 1213.4(c)(3) is added to read as follows:
* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (3) All portions of the boundary of any opening that is required to 
be probed by the wedge block of Fig. 1 of this part by paragraphs 
(c)(1) and (c)(2) of this section, and that permits free passage of a 
9-inch diameter sphere, must satisfy the requirements of paragraphs 
(c)(3)(i) and (c)(3)(ii) of this section addressing neck entrapment.
    (i) Insert the ``A'' section of the test template shown in Fig. 2 
of this part into the portion of the boundary of the opening to be 
tested, with the plane of the template in the plane of the opening and 
with the centerline of the top of the template (as shown in Fig. 2 of 
this part) aligned parallel to the centerline of the opening, until 
motion is stopped by contact between the test template and the 
boundaries of the opening (see Fig. 3 of this part). By visual 
inspection, determine if there is simultaneous contact between the 
boundary of the opening and both sides of the ``A'' section of the 
template. If simultaneous contact occurs, mark the contact points on 
the boundary of the opening and conduct the additional test described 
in paragraph (c)(3)(ii) of this section.
    (ii) To check the potential for neck entrapment, place the neck 
portion of the ``B'' section of the template into the opening, with its 
plane perpendicular to both the plane of the opening and the centerline 
of the opening (see Fig. 4 of this part). If the neck portion of the 
``B'' section of the template completely enters the opening (passes 
0.75 inch or more beyond the points previously contacted by the ``A'' 
section of the template), the opening is considered to present a neck 
entrapment hazard and fails the test, unless its lower boundary slopes 
downward at 45 degrees or more for the whole distance from the 
narrowest part of the opening the neck can reach to the part of the 
opening that will freely pass a 9-inch diameter sphere.

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PART 1513--[AMENDED]

    4. The authority citation for part 1513 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 1261(f)(1)(D), 1261(5), 1262(e)(1), 
1262(f)-(i).


Sec. 1513.3  [Amended]

    5. A new Sec. 1513.3(b)(4) is added to read as follows:
* * * * *

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    (b) * * *
    (4) All portions of the boundary of any opening required by 
Secs. 1513.4(c)(1) and (2) to be probed by the wedge block of Fig. 1 of 
this part, and that permits free passage of a 9-inch diameter sphere, 
must conform to the neck entrapment requirements of Sec. 1513.4(c)(3).


Sec. 1513.4  [Amended]

    6. A new Sec. 1513.4(c)(3) is added to read as follows:
* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (3) All portions of the boundary of any opening that is required to 
be probed by the wedge block of Fig. 1 of this part by paragraphs 
(c)(1) and (c)(2) of this section, and that permits free passage of a 
9-inch diameter sphere, must satisfy the requirements of paragraphs 
(c)(3)(i) and (c)(3)(ii) of this section addressing neck entrapment:
    (i) Insert the ``A'' section of the test template shown in Fig. 2 
of this part into the portion of the boundary to be tested, with the 
plane of the template in the plane of the opening and with the 
centerline of the top of the template (as shown in Fig. 2 of this part) 
aligned parallel to the centerline of the opening, until motion is 
stopped by contact between the test template and the boundaries of the 
opening (see Fig. 3 of this part). By visual inspection, determine if 
there is simultaneous contact between the boundary of the opening and 
both sides of the ``A'' section of the template. If simultaneous 
contact occurs, mark the contact points on the boundary of the opening 
and conduct the additional test described in paragraph (c)(3)(ii) of 
this section.
    (ii) To check the potential for neck entrapment, place the neck 
portion of the ``B'' section of the template into the opening, with its 
plane perpendicular to both the plane of the opening and the centerline 
of the opening (see Fig. 4 of this part). If the neck portion of the 
``B'' section of the template can completely enter the opening (passes 
0.75 inch or more beyond the points previously contacted by the ``A'' 
section of the template), the opening is considered to present a neck 
entrapment hazard and fails the test, unless its lower boundary slopes 
downward at 45 degrees or more for the whole distance from the 
narrowest part of the opening the neck can reach to the part of the 
opening that will freely pass a 9-inch diameter sphere.

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    Dated: June 30, 1999.
Sadye E. Dunn,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 99-17087 Filed 7-8-99; 8:45 am]
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