May 23, 2023
Furniture tip stability is a crucial issue that has come to the forefront due to the numerous deaths and injuries caused by the tipping over of dressers, armoires, wardrobes and other clothing storage units. According to data reported by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), from January 2000 through April 2022, there were 234 fatalities resulting from clothing storage unit tip-overs, including 199 child fatalities. CPSC estimates that there were 84,100 tip-over-related injuries caused by clothing storage units (an estimated annual average of 5,300 injuries) treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments from 2006 through 2021.
To address this issue, on April 19, 2023, the CPSC voted to adopt the ASTM F2057-23 voluntary standard as a mandatory safety standard to protect young children from injury and death from furniture tip-over incidents. The rule was published in the Federal Register on May 4, 2023. This new standard is expected to come into effect on Sept. 1, 2023.
The ASTM F2057-23 standard applies to freestanding storage units such as chests, chests of drawers, drawer chests, armoires, chifforobes, bureaus, door chests and dressers that are 27 inches or taller. The standard includes procedures for testing the stability of drawers and specifies that during testing, the unit must not tip over or be supported only by an opened drawer, opened door or opened or unopened flap.
The adoption of this standard was made possible by the Stop Tip-overs of Unstable, Risky Dressers on Youth (STURDY) Act, which was signed into law in December 2022. The STURDY Act required that the voluntary standard meet certain performance requirements in order to become a mandatory standard for protecting children up to 72 months old. These requirements included tests for stability when the unit is placed on carpeting, tests for stability with loaded drawers and with multiple drawers open, and tests that simulate the weight of children up to 60 pounds interacting with the unit.
With the implementation of the new ASTM F2057-23 mandatory standard, manufacturers will have to comply with these new safety requirements to make safer clothing storage units.
UL Solutions has been an active partner within the industry to support the development of this standard and our experts are available to answer any questions you may have. Furthermore, we will be evolving the UL Solutions Stability Verification program to meet the requirements of this new regulation.
We can help manufacturers test and evaluate furniture stability, allowing them to demonstrate furniture performance and differentiate their products in a competitive marketplace.
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