EC Adopts Baby Walker Safety Standard
January 15, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
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The European Commission (EC) adopted a common safety standard for baby walkers throughout the European Union (EU) to help prevent childhood accidents.
The new EU standard (reference: EN 1273:2005) introduces a requirement for stability tests during the manufacture of baby walkers and for the design to be geared towards reducing the risk of injuries.
Hospital emergency data from both the EU and the U.S. over the last 20 years consistently shows that baby walkers are a hazard, with thousands of infants treated for baby walker accidents every year. These accidents can be very serious, usually resulting in head injuries.
EU member states backed the EC's proposal to introduce this standard at the General Product Safety Committee (GPSD) meeting in November 2008, and the European Parliament welcomed the decision.
The standard will provide all economic operators and market surveillance authorities with a clear, quick and single safety reference for making, importing or checking baby walkers.
Meglena Kuneva, EC consumer commissioner, said, "This standard will help to keep the EU's youngest and most vulnerable citizens safe. Although parental or adult supervision is the ultimate protection for a child, extra safety precautions in the manufacture of children's products are also crucial."
What is a baby walker?
Baby walkers are devices on wheels that help very young children who can't yet walk to move around by means of their feet. They are generally used as soon as the baby is able to sit up unaided and until the baby is able to walk independently. Children using baby walkers range from about six to 15 months of age.
What is the problem?
Baby walkers are responsible for thousands of infant injuries every year in the EU. Accidents from baby walking frames are mainly due to falling down stairs or tipping over, especially when children try to move over uneven surfaces, such as door thresholds or carpet edges. Injuries resulting from such accidents can be very serious, because in the majority of cases they affect the child's head.
- Data from Portugal shows that 850 children between the ages of seven and 15 months needed emergency treatment due to injuries related to baby walkers (European Child Safety Alliance Report, 2006). Half of the cases were due to falls down stairs, and more than 60% of injuries are to the head.
- In the U.K., the Child Accident Prevention Trust estimates that baby walkers cause more accidents than any other nursery product, with over 2,350 babies taken to hospital in 2002 following baby walker incidents. Almost 70% of the victims were aged less than one year.
- A study from "Le Centre Hospitalier" Universitaire de Toulouse between 2003-2006 showed that 178 babies between seven and 12 months were admitted for emergency pediatric treatment due to a fall in a baby walker.
- Research from Australia indicates that at least one in three children using baby walkers will be injured at some point.
Given the rising incidence of injuries caused by this equipment, EU member states requested that a safety standard be set at the EU level.
What is the procedure?
The standard was developed by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and is already being used by market surveillance authorities in member states when checking the market for unsafe childcare products. Such EU standards are voluntary, but a product manufactured according to a standard published in the EU Official Journal is presumed to be safe.
If manufacturers choose to deviate from the EU standard, they have to ensure that their product provides - at the very least - the same safety levels and requirements indicated in the standard. This requires substantial additional, specific certification procedures that can be avoided by simply using the EU referenced standard. De facto, EU standards tend to become the industry norm.
What are the main changes and elements in the new standard?
The main risk from baby walkers is from tipping over. To address this, the new standard sets out stability tests and requirements that reduce the risk of tipping over. The new standard contains requirements and tests for the manufacture of baby walkers, so that the child's ability to reach for dangerous items and fall in unstable places, such as stairs or curbs, is reduced.
Warnings and instructions to adults are particularly important to ensure the safe use of baby walkers, as it is ultimately up to the supervising adult to make sure that the environment around the child in a baby walker is as safe as possible.
Moreover, baby walkers are not a learning device for walking, and prolonged use can interfere with the natural development of a child's walking abilities. For that reason, the standard also requires baby walkers to carry instructions tht draw adults' attention to the fact that the product is not intended for children above a certain weight or for those who are still too young to sit upright unaided.
Further information
For more information, see the Safety News page on the EU's Consumer Affairs web site.
Source: European Commission.