CEN Guide 12:2006
(Main)Child safety - Guidance for its inclusion in standards
Child safety - Guidance for its inclusion in standards
This Guide provides guidance for European Standards’ writers on meeting the requirements of European Commission mandate M/293 to address issues of child safety in standards.
Note In the preparation of this guide it is noted that the approach and philosophy utilised in the preparation of standards for products, constructions and services will depend on whether specific levels of qualified supervision are required or not.
This Guide does not exclude consideration of hazards where the means of protecting adults are equally effective for children. Generally, however, it does not refer to safety requirements that are not particular to children.
The scope of this Guide overlaps with that of guidance in some directives or mandates covering products, constructions or services intended for children, e.g. toys, childcare articles. Guidance for specific products, constructions or services intended for children is more appropriate than this general child safety guidance.
This Guide is applicable to existing or potential standards for products, constructions or services that might:
- be potentially harmful to children but not adults; or
- pose greater risks to children than adults; or
- require means of protection for children that are additional or different to those that are effective for adults.
This Guide does not consider children with special needs.
Where products, constructions or services are subject to regulatory requirements, e.g. European legislation or national laws, these requirements take precedence over any conflicting information given in this Guide.
Varnost otrok - Navodilo za vključevanje zahtev za varnost otrok v standarde
General Information
Standards Content (Sample)
SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-november-2007
9DUQRVWRWURN1DYRGLOR]DYNOMXþHYDQMH]DKWHY]DYDUQRVWRWURNYVWDQGDUGH
Child safety - Guidance for its inclusion in standards
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: CEN Guide 12:2006
ICS:
01.120 Standardizacija. Splošna Standardization. General
pravila rules
97.190 Otroška oprema Equipment for children
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.
CEN Guide 12
Child Safety
Guidance for its Inclusion in Standards
The second edition of CEN Guide 12 was adopted by the CEN Technical Board through resolution
BT C020/2006.
Edition 2 / June 2006
CEN Guide 12 Child safety – Guidance for its inclusion in standards
European Committee for
Standardization
Rue de Stassartstraat, 36
B – 1050 Brussels
Tel: +32 2 550 08 11
Fax: +32 2 550 08 19
www.cenorm.be
Edition 2 / June 2006
CEN Guide 12 Child safety – Guidance for its inclusion in standards
Contents Page
Foreword.4
1 Scope .7
2 Normative references .7
3 Terms and definitions .8
4 Background to childhood development.8
4.1 How children’s safety differs from adults’ safety.8
4.2 Children’s need to explore, experiment and learn from mistakes.9
5 Criteria for assessing risks and hazards .9
5.1 Developmental approach to child safety.9
5.2 Adult safety and alternative approaches .9
5.3 Children’s ages and abilities .10
5.4 The roles of carers.10
5.5 Cultural, generational and gender differences.11
5.6 Limits to the reduction of risks .11
6 Relating child safety to development stages.11
6.1 The basic development/age bands .11
6.2 Children aged under 3 years old.12
6.3 Children and young people aged 3–11 years old.12
6.4 Young people aged 12 years old and over.13
7 Using appropriate terminology .13
7.1 Children .13
7.2 Carers.13
7.3 Communicating with the target groups.13
8 Assessing child safety .14
8.1 Summarizing issues that need to be addressed under the Child Safety
Mandate .14
8.2 Foreseeing exposure.14
8.3 Analysing reports of accidents involving children and young people .14
8.4 Foreseeing other potential hazards to children and young people .15
9 Approaches to protection .16
9.1 Identifying effective methods of protection.16
9.2 Recommending minimum ages or other characteristics .16
9.3 Recommending minimum competence levels.17
Annex A (informative) Introduction to Annexes B - F.19
A.2 Relating the tables to the hazard identification and prevention steps.19
Annex B (informative) CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT .21
Annex C (informative) Examples illustrating the development and behaviour of
young children up to approximately 3 years .28
Annex D (informative) Examples illustrating the development and behaviour of
children/young people aged approximately 3 years and over.31
Annex E (informative) Application of guidance.37
Bibliography.38
Edition 2 / June 2006
CEN Guide 12 Child safety – Guidance for its inclusion in standards
Foreword
The scope of mandate M/293 covers the protection of children from unintentional physical
and/or mental injury associated with products, constructions and services. This includes those
not intended for use by children but which are easily and generally accessible to them. The
mandate covers foreseeable use and misuse within the normal behaviour of children.
For the purposes of the mandate, children are defined as persons up to the age of 14 years of
age. The scope of this Guide is therefore similarly limited, except where standards can more
effectively protect those under 14 years of age by considering their safety together with that of
persons 14 years of age and over.
Mandate M/293 refers to any product, construction or service in the field of consumer safety
that is easily and generally accessible to children or young people up to 14 years of age.
Excluded from the mandate are professional areas of work where persons under 14 years of
age do not have access or are not likely to have access. Also excluded are areas prohibited to
the general public and those prohibited to pedestrians in general, such as traffic areas.
Where products, constructions or services are subject to regulatory requirements, e.g.
European legislation or national laws, these requirements take precedence over any
conflicting information given in this Guide.
In this Guide, product, construction or service is used to refer to the subject of any European
Standard.
Annexes A, B, C, D, E and F are informative.
This Guide supersedes CEN Guide 12:2005.
Edition 2 / June 2006
CEN Guide 12 Child safety – Guidance for its inclusion in standards
Introduction
This Guide provides advice and information to assist experts on working groups of European
Standards Technical Committees fulfil their obligations under EU Mandate M/293 - Mandate
to the European Standards Bodies for a Guidance document in the field of safety of
consumers and children – Child safety.
This Guide is an informative document, acting as an aide-memoire to assist standards’ writers
take children’s safety into account when drafting new or revising existing standards. It is
intended to stimulate discussions in working groups, guiding users towards safe solutions
without potentially constraining examples. It also recognizes the need to consider context, and
national cultures and practices in determining safe solutions. It is not a specification of
absolute safety criteria that can be applied.
In the preparation of this guide it is noted that the approach and philosophy utilised in
the preparation of standards for products, constructions and services will depend on
whether specific levels of qualified supervision are required or not.
The Guide does not prescribe solutions but instead presents
• an outline of children’s development, explaining how this leads to different approaches to
promoting safety from those used to meet the needs of adults
• a structured approach to risk assessment reflecting children’s changing behaviour,
physical characteristics, and need to explore and learn
• examples of what children can do at different stages of development, the resulting
hazardous behaviours and characteristics (Annexes B, C and D)
• examples of potentially effective preventive measures for consideration (Tables C.2 and
D.2)
• This guide should not be used in isolation from the advice contained in other publications
as it complements the information that is provided in other publications, especially
• ISO/IEC Guide 51, Safety aspects ― Guidelines for their inclusion in standards, which
presents the over-arching principles of risk assessment
• ISO/IEC Guide 50, Safety aspects ― Guidelines for their inclusion in standards, which
adopts a hazard-based approach when applying risk assessment, taking into account
the characteristics of children
• CEN/TR 13387 Child-use and care articles – Safety guidelines, which presents
detailed guidance for the safety of children up to 4 years
• CR 14379 Classification of toys – Guidelines
• This guide and ISO/IEC Guide 50 are complementary rather than alternatives. ISO/IEC
Guide 50 provides a description of child development and behaviour and a detailed
Edition 2 / June 2006
CEN Guide 12 Child safety – Guidance for its inclusion in standards
overview of the hazards relevant to children. By reading ISO/IEC Guide 50 one gains a
helpful overview of the particular issues that have to be taken into account to provide
safety for children. This Guide expands on this and offers mechanisms to enable the
user to reach appropriate solutions in a structured way.
Many experts will have extensive experience of the safety issues relevant to the product,
construction or service that is the subject of the standard. Others will have experience of child
safety issues with a wider range of products, constructions or services. Their combined
experience of safety issues will be substantial and will normally identify all major hazards of
the product, construction or service. This Guide is not a replacement for that experience.
Since the range of products, constructions or services, and the hazards that can arise when
children interact with them is so wide, any document that tried to detail all considerations
would be too long to be of practical use to standards’ writers.
Where products, constructions or services are subject to regulatory requirements, e.g.
European legislation or national laws, these requirements take precedence over any
conflicting information given in this Guide.
Edition 2 / June 2006
CEN Guide 12 Child safety – Guidance for its inclusion in standards
1 Scope
This Guide provides guidance for European Standards’ writers on meeting the requirements of
European Commission mandate M/293 to address issues of child safety in standards.
Note In the preparation of this guide it is noted that the approach and philosophy
utilised in the preparation of standards for products, constructions and services will
depend on whether specific levels of qualified supervision are required or not.
This Guide does not exclude consideration of hazards where the means of protecting adults
are equally effective for children. Generally, however, it does not refer to safety requirements
that are not particular to children.
The scope of this Guide overlaps with that of guidance in some directives or mandates
covering products, constructions or services intended for children, e.g. toys, childcare articles.
Guidance for specific products, constructions or services intended for children is more
appropriate than this general child safety guidance.
This Guide is applicable to existing or potential standards for products, constructions or
services that might:
be potentially harmful to children but not adults; or
pose greater risks to children than adults; or
require means of protection for children that are additional or different to those that are
effective for adults.
This Guide does not consider children with special needs.
Where products, constructions or services are subject to regulatory requirements, e.g.
European legislation or national laws, these requirements take precedence over any
conflicting information given in this Guide.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this Guide. For
dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of
the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
EN 71 (all parts), Safety of toys.
EN 1176 (all parts), Playground equipment.
CEN/TR 13387, Child use and care articles - Safety guidelines.
ISO/IEC Guide 14, Product information for consumers of goods and services.
ISO/IEC Guide 37, Instructions for use of products of consumer interest.
ISO/IEC Guide 50, Safety aspects — Guidelines for child safety.
ISO/IEC Guide 51, Safety aspects — Guidelines for their inclusion in standards.
Edition 2 / June 2006
CEN Guide 12 Child safety – Guidance for its inclusion in standards
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this Guide, the terms and definitions given in ISO Guide 50, ISO Guide 51
and the following apply.
3.1
carer
person who e
...
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