The CPSC is coming out with a new rule for crib safety.  As I mentioned in an earlier post the GSA child care program follows the safety guidance of the CPSC and so we are planning now to comply with the new crib rule which will require us to replace most of our existing cribs.  Our cribs are not defective and babies are well supervised and cared for now so we are planning an orderly transition over the next 2 years. 

 Our biggest challenge will be “what to do with the old cribs?”  They can not be given away or reused but we definitely want to look for ways to recycle them and keep the materials out of the land fill.  Any ideas?  Shoot me an email.  

 I’ve included the notice that came out from Child Care Information Exchange.  They always do a nice job of keeping the child care world informed and are true leaders in the field.  To subscribe to Child Care Information Exchange go to:   ChildCareExchange.com

 Strict New Crib Rules

January 7, 2011

You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted December 15, 2010 to approve a new Rule for Cribs, adopting the most rigorous standards in the world. The Rule is an outcome of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. Among the performance requirements:

• 80 lb. loading on individual slats
• surviving many thousands of impacts to mattress surface and crib sides
• wood screws no longer allowed as sole means of fastening structural joints
• a ban on traditional drop-side cribs (a moveable section of the side is still allowed for easier access to baby)

 Of particular concern to infant care providers is Congress’s requirement that the Rule be retroactive. No wooden cribs in use prior to the Rule are known to be in compliance with it. All such cribs must be replaced. The Rule allows two years after its publication (expected daily now) for child care centers to replace their cribs.

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