Revised safety guidelines for children's products published

PD CEN/TR 13387-3: 2018 Child care articles - General safety guidelines - Child care articles – Part 3: Mechanical hazards

The third part of CEN Technical Report 13387 (PD CEN/TR 13387-3:2018) has been published following its recent revision and follows the recent publication of the revised Part 5 - Product information and Part 1 - Safety philosophy and safety assessment parts of the 13387 series. This part (3) is intended to be used in conjunction with CEN/TR 13387-1.

The revised document is written in the clearer hazard based format and although primarily for use during the drafting of technical standards for children’s products, it is equally of use to those with a professional interest in child safety or risk assessment.

Covering a wide range of identified hazards including those posed by moving parts such as shearing, squeezing or crushing; static or irregular shaped openings and entrapment of parts of the body, inadequate structural integrity, materials suitability and stability, each mechanical hazard is accompanied by explanatory rationale along with requirements, test equipment and test methods.

As part of the revision a number of clauses have been re-worded for clarity including on the accessibility of mechanical hazards (areas a child can reasonably reach) and on footholds with additional clarification given in relation to entanglement hazards and suffocation hazards in particular those posed by non-air permeable packaging. In addition, new finger and hip probes have also been added in relation to entrapment hazards with the hip probe also being introduced in relation to items offering a protective or barrier function.

The 5 part series includes Part 1 - Safety philosophy and safety assessment; Part 2 - Chemical hazards; Part 4 - Thermal hazards and Part 5 - Product information.

A copy of the standard may be obtained from BSI here