The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has unanimously approved new safety rules for cribs and their supporting hardware, and all cribs manufactured and sold must comply with these rules by June 28, 2011. As a result of these new rules, all cribs used in daycare centers and places of public accommodation (including churches) must comply with the new standards by December 28, 2012. In the meantime, church nurseries who use non-compliant cribs are strongly advised to inspect the cribs before each use and tighten or replace loose or broken parts. Churches are especially advised to replace drop-side cribs, which will not meet the new safety standards and have been blamed in the deaths of more than 30 infants and toddlers since 2000. The CSPC advises churches not to “resell, donate, or give away a crib that does not meet the new crib standards” and “recommends disassembling the crib before discarding it.”
For more information about the new safety standards for cribs, see http://www.cpsc.gov/info/cribs.
