CPSC Announces Recall Of Catalina Furniture Wooden Bunk Beds

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is announcing a recall program to retrofit approximately 5,000 wooden bunk beds manufactured and distributed by Catalina Furniture Company Inc. of Fullerton, Calif. The bunk beds have openings on the top bunk, which may present an entrapment hazard to young children. The spaces can be large enough for a child's body to pass through, but small enough to entrap the child's head. The program affects Catalina Model No. 3892 bunk beds manufactured prior to January 1, 1995.

On May 9, 1995, in cooperation with CPSC, 11 manufacturers announced the recall of over 320,000 wooden bunk beds for similar entrapment hazards. At that time, CPSC also identified the potential entrapment hazard with the Catalina Model 3892 bunk bed. However, Catalina refused to be included in that joint bunk bed recall announcement.

From 1990 through 1994, CPSC received reports of 24 children who died after becoming caught in bunk beds that posed an entrapment hazard. Sixteen of the deaths resulted from entrapment between the guardrail and mattress, or guardrail and bedframe. Nineteen of the children were ages two and under, and four were three years of age. Catalina's bunk beds are accompanied by warning labels advising that children under age six should not be placed in the top bunk. CPSC and Catalina continue to urge parents and caregivers not to put children under age 6 on the top bunk.

Although CPSC is not aware of any deaths or injuries related to Catalina bunk beds, the Commission is aware of one incident in which a three-year-old child slipped between the guardrail and mattress of a Catalina Model No. 3892 bunk bed and became entrapped by the head. The child was rescued and did not sustain any injuries.

The ASTM voluntary standard for bunk beds requires that any spaces between the guardrail of the top bunk and the bed frame, and in the head and foot boards on the top bunk, be less than 3.5 inches. This standard has been set to reduce the possibility that a child's head might become trapped in the spaces between the bunk bed supports. The space between the guardrail of the top bunk and the bedframe of Catalina Model No. 3892 bunk beds manufactured prior to January 1, 1995 is 5.5 inches. Catalina has redesigned its Model No. 3892 bunk beds so that beds manufactured after January 1, 1995 comply with the ASTM standard.

Consumers who own a Catalina bunk bed Model No. 3892 should contact theretailer where the bed was purchased or contact Catalina Furniture at (714) 523-7000 for a kit that will reduce the size of the spaces in the Catalina bunk beds.