A revised version of the STURDY act passed the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in May this year. With rare bipartisan support, the bill still has to pass the full Senate before President Biden signs it to officially become law.
What is the STURDY act?
STURDY stands for Stop Tip-overs of Unstable, Risky Dressers on Youth. The purpose of STURDY is to get the Consumer Product Safety Commission to update the safety requirements for furniture like dressers, bureaus, or chests of drawers. It can help to prevent harm from tip-overs, especially to children.
Why is STURDY act important?
There are many heartbreaking results in terms of tip-overs hurting children.
As children tend to be curious; however, they are too short to reach the top of dressers which may contain many attractive items like books, toys, and TV. Children might climb these furniture making them fall over, or if the furniture is unstable, it can also tip over on its own. As a result, these incidents will cause injury to children, or even worse, resulting in death.
Statistics show that from 2000 to 2019, 77% of deaths due to tip-overs were children below six years old. In 2020, a report in the US stated that about 9000 cases of children going to emergency rooms after suffering from tip-overs of furniture or house applicants.
Nonetheless, adults are still incautious about this issue. Consumer Product Safety Commission Chair, Alex Hoehn-Saric, voiced that parents are most likely to be unaware of the risks or think that tip-overs cannot happen under supervision. However, numbers proved that about half of the fatal incidents happened when parents are not there to watch over their kids.
Updates on the STURDY act
The bill first passed the House of Representatives in 2019 but was not passed by the Senate. The American Home Furnishings Alliance mentioned that there were major changes in this revised bill in terms of wording and language, making it easier for negotiation.
The revised version of STURDY still keeps its original safety requirements including:
- A test simulating the weight of children weighing up to 60 pounds.
- Tests that are objective, repeatable, reproducible, and measurable that simulate reality. These tests will take into account the impact of a furniture unit in different cases. For example: placing on a carpet, all drawers stuffed full and all drawers open.
- A test to determine the “dynamic force” of a child with a weight of up to 60 pounds.
However, with the amendment, these requirements have to be tied to the new performance tests in the revised F2057.
Many organizations and committees have shown their support for STURDY. They signed a letter to members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on May 11, 2022. These supporters are Parents Against Tip-overs, Consumer Federation of America, Kids in Danger, American Academy of Pediatrics, Home Furnishing Association, and Consumer Reports.
Conclusion
Although there is still a long way to go, hopefully, the act will soon be passed as official law. The meaningful goal of STURDY will create a positive trend in the furniture industry to ensure children’s safety.
To read official information about the STURDY act, you can go here.
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