At the end of November, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalled 2.1 million baby cribs, the largest crib recall in U.S. history. It’s the 22^nd recall in the last two years, which all told has affected 6.3 million cribs across 10 brands.

What does all that mean to the lodging industry? Hotels should immediately make sure they’re not using a recalled product. But maybe more importantly, says Barnet Kessel, the recall also serves as a wakeup call to the industry that crib safety needs to become a higher priority. The vice president of WEHSCO, a division of Mantua Manufacturing that makes a folding metal crib, worked with the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) to help create safety standards for commercial cribs.

A WEHSCO crib

The new standards, ASTM F2710-08, were introduced in December 2008 and are currently voluntary, but Kessel says history shows that at some point the government will eventually mandate those as federal requirements through the CPSC.

Cribs used for commercial purposes—in hotels, daycares and rental facilities—need to be held to higher standards because of more wear and tear. At a hotel, for example, cribs are getting moved from room to storage to room and dismantled and put together again and again on a potentially daily basis. Beyond that, hotels have to consider both liability and public relations issues.

“Consumers and hotel guests consider hotels to be in the dark ages when it comes to crib safety,” says Kessel, whose cribs can be found in some Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental and La Quinta properties. “If you Google ‘hotel crib’ you’ll see more instances of blogs and comment postings by parents that don’t trust a hotel crib and recommend traveling with your own.

“Hotels have been lucky so far they haven’t really had bad publicity in combination with an insurance incident that could send the industry into a whole new dimension.” To make sure things stay that way, Kessel provided the following recommendations for hotel crib safety:

1. CRIB INVENTORY
• Take an inventory of cribs in your property(s).
• What brand(s) of cribs do you have and what is their safety record?
• How old are they and what condition are they in?
• Have they been part of a safety recall (www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5136.html)?

2. COMMERCIAL CRIB STANDARDS
Do the cribs comply with the new ASTM F2710-08 commercial crib standards (www.astm.org/Standards/F2710.htm)?

3. PURCHASE CONSIDERATIONS
• Slats no more than 2-3/8 inches apart (so an infant’s head can’t get trapped).
• No loose, missing or cracked slats.
• No missing parts.
• Preferably use a crib without drop sides. If cribs have drop sides, make sure they can lock and not be released by baby.
• Joints and parts should fit tightly. If wood, must be smooth and free of splinters.
• If painted, all surfaces should be covered with lead-free paint that isn’t chipped or peeling.
• No cutouts in headboard or footboard.
• No loose screws or bolts.
• Corner posts should be flush with the end panels.
• The mattress should be the same size as the crib so there are no gaps to trap arms, body, or legs. If you can fit two fingers between the mattress and the side of the crib, the crib should not be used.

4. LIABILITY CONSIDERATIONS
Is the crib manufacturer you’re working with fiscally strong and fully insured?

5. PROMOTE GOOD SAFETY STANDARDS
• Inspect your cribs regularly. Once you establish that your cribs meet stringent safety standards, promote these standards to your guests.
• Travelers blog about their concerns regarding hotel cribs.
• Display information for guests that tells of your proactive safety stance.