US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) releases Toy-Related Death and Injuries (Calendar Year 2015), which presents the latest available statistics on deaths and emergency department-treated injuries associated with toys for the 2015 calendar year. Some children’s products are listed of high concern and it is of high likelihood of the highlights for CPSC supervision.

In this report, the quality of toys on the market has overall improved especially after the applicability of Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), but special notice shall be taken to physical hazards such as injuries, asphyxiation and fires.

The report shows the toy-related emergency department-treated injuries associated with toys for the 2015 calendar year reached more than 250,000 and 11 toy related deaths, involving, scooters, toy balls, ride-on toys, flush toys, balloons and water guns. Te top three specifically identified toys that were associated with the most estimated injuries for all ages in 2015 were: ride-on toy, toy balls and flying discs. The injuries of ride-on toys reached as high as 75,000 accounting for 30% of the total, while of ride-on toys injuries those associated with nonmortorised scooters accounted for 69% .

In recent years, CPSC intensifies its supervision on children’s products with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at ports. Meanwhile, it also adopts stricter regulatory requirements to enhance the toys quality. For instances, CPSIA mandates all durable children’s products (as cribs) comply with related voluntary standards. The newly released ASTM F963-2016 updated the safety requirements for ride-on toys and projectile toys that cause higher rate of injuries, also forbid the production and sale of children’s scooters. Consumer products that fall short of standards will usually be recalled via CPSC system. (See our analysis on CPSC recalls.)

Great attention shall be paid due to the intensified regulation of CPSC. It is advisable that businesses should keep an eye on regulatory changes and also have their products tested to ensure safety.

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US toy safety standard ASTM F963-16 updated

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