Product safety
With more than 40 years' experience in sourcing, manufacturing and trading business, Palco International Limited understand that product safety of toys is a very important issue for children.
What are toy safety standards ?
Toy safety standards, in general, are established to help ensure the safety of children’s toys in the US. Importers and manufacturers should understand that, in most cases, they must send their products for testing to ensure that their products comply with the requirements set by the standards.
Toy safety standards cover limits to heavy elements and other substances, mechanical requirements, and other safety requirements. The goal is to ensure that children won’t get injured or exposed to harmful substances while playing with the toys.
Mechanical and physical properties
Children’s toys may inherently present mechanical and physical hazards during playtime.
As such, requirements in toy safety standards might cover physical properties such as material quality, accessible points, or sharp edges. Mechanical properties might also include folding mechanisms and hinges, projectile toy characteristics, and more.
Small parts
Safety standards, such as ASTM F963-17, might also cover requirements for small parts, which in some cases may be the entire toy or a component that may be detached during use.
If the toy, or parts of it, is small enough to be accidentally ingested by a young child, then it presents an inherent choking hazard and would be potentially unfit for sale. For this reason, toys containing small parts are banned, if these are intended for children younger than 3 years.
However, if the small toy (or regular toy with small parts) is intended for use by children between the age of 3 and 6 years, it has to carry a warning label noting its inherent dangers.
Chemicals and heavy metals
Toy safety standards might also restrict hazardous chemicals and heavy metals that may be found in toys. This might include:
• Phthalates
• Lead
• Cadmium
Safeguards such as lab testing must be in place to ensure that products and materials do not contain an excessive amount of dangerous substances.
Electrical safety
Some children’s toys have either electrical components, batteries, or both. There exist standards that cover requirements that ensure electrical safety to protect children from any potential electricity-related hazard that may arise during the use of the toy.
ASTM F963-17 covers safety requirements regarding electrical energy, thermal energy, battery-powered ride-on toys, and more.
Batteries
Batteries might be found in electrical or electronic toys, the safety of which is covered by safety standards such as ASTM F963-17. Battery-operated toys might require testing to ensure they do not pose harm to children playing with them.
Flammability
Flammability is an aspect that might also be covered by toy safety standards. This is because some types of toys can catch fire easily due to the fact that they contain flammable material that would pose a hazard to children (e.g. plush toys).
Warning labels
Toy safety standards might cover requirements regarding warning labels. These labels are intended to provide caution statements and symbols that help the user of the toy (or the caregivers) avoid hazards such as electrocution, accidental ingestion, and more.