Standardization News

ASTM Subcommittee F15.18 on Cribs, Toddler Beds, Play Yards, Cradles and Changing Tables was among the five recipients of the new Chairman's Circle of Commendation Award, an honor given for the first time by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The award was presented to ASTM at a ceremony at CPSC headquarters in Bethesda, Md., on Dec. 1, 2011.

The new award was established to recognize contributions to injury prevention and consumer product safety made by individuals, organizations, businesses, state and local governments, and other groups. For a full list of recipients of the new award, please see the CPSC website.

F15.18 is part of ASTM International Committee F15 on Consumer Products. In December 2010, two standards developed by F15.18 - F406, Consumer Safety Specification for Non-Full-Size Baby Cribs/Play Yards, and F1169, Consumer Safety Specification for Full-Size Baby Cribs - were included by CPSC in regulatory requirements issued under Section 104 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

In addition to F406 and F1169, the following standards are under the jurisdiction of F15.18:

The subcommittee is also working on a proposed standard, WK27475, Consumer Safety Specification for Bedside Sleepers.

"Consumers are safer today because of the work of these five individuals and groups," said Inez Tenenbaum, chairman, CPSC. "Each has, in their own way, pushed the envelope with safety innovations, advocacy or product testing. Their contributions to public safety are invaluable."

As Chairman Tenenbaum noted in a CPSC news release to mark the award, F15.18 "has been instrumental in adopting tough new voluntary safety standards for children's nursery products, especially cribs. These standards have saved countless numbers of children's lives and prevented serious injuries. The subcommittee's work was crucial to the development of CPSC's new mandatory crib standards - the strongest in the world."

At the CPSC awards ceremony, from left to right: Leonard Morrissey, director, ASTM; Inez Tenenbaum, chairman, CPSC; Katharine Morgan, vice president, technical committee operations, ASTM; and Catherine Pilarz, ASTM chairman of the board and co-chair of F15.18.