U.S. consumer agency warns of crib dangers in hotels

February 22, 2000
Web posted at: 3:43 p.m. EST (2043 GMT)

WASHNGTON (CNN) -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission Tuesday warned that most cribs found in hotels during a recent study were unsafe for infants and urged all hotels to join a campaign for safer cribs.

The warning stems from safety concerns about a number of cribs and so-called "play yards" in general and from spot checks at some 90 hotels performed by volunteers from the Safe Kids Coalition. About 40 deaths occur every year involving cribs, though not necessarily in hotels.

"Of the 122 cribs that Safe Kids Coalition volunteers observed," said Heather Paul, executive director of the group, "hazards were unfortunately observed in half of them. More than half of cribs were provided with adult sheets -- a potential cause of strangulation and suffocation."

The CPSC said unsafe cribs and play yards were found in 80 percent of hotels and motels visited for the study. "Children under (age) 2 spend seven million nights a year in hotels," said Commission Chairman Ann Brown.

Cribs considered to be unsafe can have slats spaced far enough apart so that an infant's head can get stuck in between them, they can have bedding that is so soft as to create a suffocation hazard, and some are designed to collapse in the middle which could lead to a child's head getting caught between the two halves of the device. Older cribs sometimes have exposed corners and slide rails which can lead to serious injuries if a child's hands or fingers get caught in them.

Brown announced that Bass Hotels and Resorts -- which includes the Holiday Inn, Inter-Continental, Crowne Plaza and Staybridge Suites chains -- was the only hotel group out of 24 invited that agreed join CPSC in a crib safety initiative.

The Bass group has promised to provide additional training for staff as well as a crib safety week in which each hotel's housekeeping and maintenance staff will conduct a thorough inspection of all cribs and play yards to ensure they meet with current safety standards.

CPSC crib safety and recall information is available at www.cpsc.gov or by calling the CPSC hotline at 1-800-638-2772. More information on crib safety is available at www.safekids.org.

National Safe Kids Campaign
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Bass Hotels and Resorts

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