In 2017, there were frequent problems with children's furniture, and big brands were no exception
Concerned about the safety of children's furniture, experts call for systematization of standards
As people value a healthy life, the health of children's furniture has attracted more and more attention from consumers. In the past, people seldom paid attention to whether the production quality of children's furniture met the standards, whether the labels used passed the customs, and whether it could be safe in use. However, in the past year, many children's furniture, including major furniture brands, had frequent problems, causing parents to pay attention to this.
Children's furniture frequently had problems in the past year
"If there are loopholes in the standard, we will fill it up. This is just an accident. The difference between the recall will definitely occur in the future. Who cares?" "Similar to IKEA this time, it will not happen the first time, nor will it be the second time. "After the IKEA children's furniture safety incident, the safety of children's furniture attracted such comments on the Internet.
From these messages, it can be seen that the public has serious concerns about the safety of children's furniture, especially parents. A series of recalls is worrying.
After an interview with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, IKEA China decided to recall the "Malm" series of drawer cabinets sold from 1999 to 2016 in the Chinese market, totaling more than 1.66 million pieces. Previously, these drawers were recalled in the North American market due to the risk of falling over and causing child casualties. On July 12, the official website of IKEA (IK EA) and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China simultaneously announced the recall of Malm and other series of drawer cabinets in the Chinese market. IKEA stated that in accordance with Article 22 of the “Administrative Measures for the Recall of Defective Consumer Goods” issued by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, “For consumer products subject to recalls, producers shall promptly take measures to correct or supplement labels, repair, replace, and return to eliminate defects or reduce Eliminate safety risks. Producers should bear the costs of eliminating defects.” Subsequently, IKEA provided post-sales treatment measures for the recalled drawer cabinets, such as mailing accessories, free wall mounting, and return, and strengthened the fixation in the store interior, official website and product assembly instructions. The sign on the wall reminds consumers that the sales of drawer cabinets have not been stopped. After the incident, Shenzhen IKEA said: “Product safety, especially the safety of children, is always the focus of IKEA’s work and will not compromise on this. We always hope that consumers can rest assured of the IKEA products they buy. safe."
National standards still need to be systematized
In Shenzhen, children's furniture with "danger signals" for children and teenagers can be seen everywhere in major stores, such as pungent materials, sharp cabinet edges, high and low beds with substandard load-bearing capacity, and so on. Although my country's mandatory children's furniture standard "General Technical Requirements for Children's Furniture" was issued on August 1, 2012, its restraint on the children's furniture market is not obvious. "This standard issued by our country restricts the corner curvature of some tables and chairs and the emission of harmful substances, but it is not systematic, especially in terms of the underlying standards of product design. We are extremely lacking." Shenzhen Family Association Housing Said Guan Yongkang, Dean of the Hardcover Research Institute.
According to Guan Yongkang, the current safety hazards in the domestic children's furniture market are mainly divided into two categories, one is physical risks, and the other is chemical risks. Physical risks mainly refer to issues such as the weight of stairs, high and low beds, and whether children are allowed to jump on them. Such problems can generally be avoided by safety signs on the furniture and the use of child-sensitive colors. The previous IKEA "Death Cabinet" incident is a physical risk. Regarding the quality of paint and boards, the amount of formaldehyde, toluene, xylene, heavy metals, etc. contained in them is a chemical risk. "I think the current domestic children's furniture market, including Shenzhen, is likely to have problems on the chemical level, because some businesses will use unqualified paint and materials, which will cause great harm to children's health." Guan Yongkang Said.
How can we produce children's furniture with a higher safety factor? When developing furniture for the elderly, Bailong adopted a technology that simulates the living conditions of the elderly, so that when designing the furniture, we fully consider the feelings of the elderly when using the furniture. "At present, this technology has not been applied to the production of children's furniture. We are currently producing children's furniture based on the premise that consumers can use it rationally. I think it is very important to apply this technology to the production of our children's furniture. necessary."
Preschool education furniture is also worthy of attention
The health and safety issues of children's furniture have aroused the attention of the society. In particular, parents have gradually become aware of relevant safety and know that they should be extra careful when choosing furniture for children. However, children’s preschool education products used in kindergartens and early education classes are easily overlooked, and there is currently no unified national standard in this field, and businesses usually can only refer to the national standard of children’s furniture.
Children’s preschool education is an important branch of today’s children’s furniture brand. More and more parents are spending more time choosing their children’s preschool education. Therefore, various kindergartens and early education institutions also hope to successfully attract the attention of parents and children. The hardware products used—including supporting facilities for pre-school education—are particularly important.
A children's furniture manufacturer revealed that the current situation in this industry is worrying. On the one hand, kindergartens and early childhood education hope that these children’s preschool education supplies used in the park look well-designed and high-grade; on the other hand, they hope that manufacturers can reduce prices as much as possible. Due to the lack of national standards for this field, some companies will sacrifice the environmental safety of their homes to meet the two points of low cost and good lighting design.
It is important to know that children who enter the kindergarten will spend 6-8 hours a day with the furniture and facilities in these gardens. Once the products are unqualified, the quality is problematic, and the environmental protection standards are not met, then these colorless and odorless gases will continue to be released. For more than ten years.
