The Purposes of the RSA
The Refrigerator Safety Act (available in PDF and Text), was enacted in 1956. The Act's regulations which became effective October 30, 1958 require a mechanism (usually a magnetic latch) which enables the door to be opened from the inside in the event of accidental entrapment. This type of latch, therefore, makes the hazardous refrigerators manufactured before that date easy to identify. The serious entrapment hazard occurs when children, during play, climb inside the old abandoned or carelessly stored refrigerators to hide. Many of these refrigerators are still in use, and when they are carelessly discarded or stored where they are accessible to children, they become a danger.
Advisory Opinions
Help companies understand the meaning and application of CPSC's laws.
Federal Regulations Associated with the Act
The Federal regulations for the RSA are found in Title 16 CFR part 1750.
The RSA is available above in text and PDF format. PDF (Portable Document Format) requires use of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
The PDF version of the RSA has a clickable hyperlinked table of contents. To activate
this feature, open the document in Acrobat Reader, click 
on the Navigation Pane icon, next to the printer icon. If the table of contents does not appear, click on the "Bookmarks." tab. The statutory citations in red are clickable hyperlinks to the statutory text.
All five statutes are available in a single book, with an index, from the
Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington,
D.C. 20207