CPSC Announces Recall of Additional Wooden Bunk Beds

November 27, 1996
Release # 97-032

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For Immediate Release;
Contact: Jane Francis
(301) 504-0580 Ext. 1187

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission CPSC), five bunk bed manufacturers are recalling approximately 100,000 wooden bunk beds. The bunk beds have openings on the top bunk that present a potential entrapment hazard to young children. The spaces can be large enough for a child's body to pass through, but small enough to entrap the child's head.

Since November 1994, CPSC and 26 manufacturers have announced recalls of more han 411,400 wooden bunk beds with similar entrapment hazards. In response to this action, the manufacturers participating in this recall have also identified bunk beds with similar entrapment hazards.

Since 1990, CPSC has received reports of 32 children who died from becoming caught in bunk beds with similar spaces in the top bunk. Thirty-one of those children were ages 3 and under. The most recent death occurred on September 28, 1996. A 3-year-old boy died from becoming caught in a bunk bed manufactured by the Bedder Bunk Company.

The ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) voluntary standard for bunk beds requires that, in addition to having guardrails on both sides of the top bunk, all spaces between the guardrail and bed frame, and in the head and foot boards on the top bunk, should be less than 3.5 inches. Bunk beds currently made by the companies listed below now meet the spacing requirement of the voluntary standard. The companies are also providing permanent labels or placing permanent labels on their bunk beds to warn that children under the age of 6 be prohibited from the upper bunk. CPSC and the manufacturers continue to urge parents and caregivers not to put children under the age of 6 on the top bunk.

The manufacturers listed below are participating in this recall to improve the safety of these beds and to meet the requirements of the voluntary standard. Consumers should stop using the recalled beds immediately and call the company or contact the retailer for a replacement guardrail, retrofit kit, or instructions to help eliminate the potential entrapment hazard. If consumers are not sure of the bunk bed manufacturer or have questions about this recall, they should call CPSC's Hotline at (800) 638-2772.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission protects the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death from 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury and for information on CPSC's fax-on-demand service, call CPSC's hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270. To order a press release through fax-on-demand, call (301) 504-0051 from the handset of your fax machine and enter the release number. Consumers can obtain this release and recall information at CPSC's web site at http://www.cpsc.gov or via Internet gopher services at cpsc.gov. Consumers can report product hazards to info@cpsc.gov.