ASTM International Committee F15 on Consumer Products is currently developing a proposed new standard at the request of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The proposed standard, WK20641, Specification for Cautionary Labeling of Inflatable Air Mattresses, is under the jurisdiction of Subcommittee F15.63 on Inflatable Air Mattresses.

Since 2002, there have been 16 fatalities (many of them being infants) associated with air mattresses reported to the CPSC. Eleven victims suffocated in a facedown position on an air mattress, while five died of suffocation after falling into gaps between the mattress and bed frame or between the mattress and adjacent furniture or wall. The purpose of WK20641 is to help manufacturers label their product to warn consumers of the hazard of suffocation on soft or deflating mattresses.

"The users of the standard will primarily be manufacturers, but the beneficiaries will be consumers purchasing air mattresses for residential, occasional uses, such as vacations or when relatives come for a visit," says Jonathan Midgett, an engineering psychologist in the human factors division, CPSC, and a Committee F15 member. 

Interested parties are invited to participate in the development of WK20641.

For technical Information, contact Jonathan Midgett, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Bethesda, Md. (phone: 301-504-7692; jmidgett@cpsc.gov). For meeting or membership information, contact Leonard Morrissey, ASTM International (phone: 610-832-9719; lmorriss@astm.org).

Release #8073/Oct08