Summary

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:
Test Trial Focus Groups on Climbing Behavior of Children
The general objective of this project is to provide the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC) with data on the strategies that children employ while climbing
furniture; children’s assumed positions based on body dimensions and force exertions; and
parents’ perceptions of their children’s ability and interest in climbing on furniture.
Test Trial focus groups will investigate children’s experience and interest in climbing; items
they climb on the house; their functional and play behaviors with dressers, and parents’
perceptions and observations of these behaviors. The test trial will also employ a hands-on
interaction with a test fixture representative of a dresser, permitting child participants to
interact with the test fixture. Child’s body measurements and force exertions while climbing
will be recorded. All data collection will be performed by the University of Michigan in
compliance with the Privacy Act and Protection of Human Subjects requirements.
PURPOSE
From 2015 through 2017, an estimated 28,300 people were treated annually in U.S. hospital
emergency departments for product instability or tip-over injuries related to televisions,
furniture, and appliances. The highest number of instability- or tip-over-related injuries were
associated with furniture, with a national annual average estimate of 19,100 injuries (68
percent). Children younger than 10 years of age are associated with the largest number of
product instability or tip-over injuries for televisions, furniture, and appliances total. Between
2000 and 2017, a total of 110 children died due to furniture falling on them. 1
CPSC staff has been working to mitigate the tip-over risk from clothing storage units
(CSUs). CPSC launched an educational campaign (Anchor It!) in 2015, conducted several
voluntary recalls of CSUs, developed a briefing package in 2016, and issued an advance
notice of proposed rulemaking in 2017. CPSC worked with stakeholders to develop and
revise the ASTM F2057, Standard Safety Specification for Clothing Storage Units. The intent of the
ASTM standard is to reduce hazards associated with tip over of free-standing CSUs. The
current test methods include testing the CSU empty and without a tip-over restraint: for the
first test, all the doors and drawers of an unloaded unit are opened. In the second test, each
drawer or door is opened one at a time, and a test weight totaling 50 lbs. is applied over the
front of each drawer or door. The unit should not tip over under these test conditions to
comply with the standard. After CPSC staff identified a fatal incident involving a CSU that
complies with the standard, CPSC staff and the ASTM subcommittee began to investigate
the specific types of scenarios that may lead to tip over, but are not adequately reproduced
with the current test methods in the standard.

1

Suchy, A. (2018). Product Instability or Tip-Over Injuries and Fatalities Associated with Televisions,
Furniture, and Appliances: 2018 Report. US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Bethesda MD.

Staff is interested in finding out the tactics that children employ while climbing furniture to
improve the test procedures that CSUs are subjected to, based on ASTM F2057, Standard
Safety Specification for Clothing Storage Units. The current study seeks to gather opinions from
parents and children on the child’s climbing behaviors, and observe and measure forces of
children while they climb on a simulated dresser test fixture. Results of this study, along with
CPSC staff’s review of incident scenarios that led to tip overs, and engineering analysis of
factors influencing tip over, such as flooring surface, loaded vs. unloaded drawers, and
number of open drawers with loads, will be used to develop new test requirements to
reproduce scenarios that are critical to determining the stability of CSUs.
The contractor will conduct test trial focus groups with recruited parent-child pairs. The
focus groups will employ a hands-on interaction with a simulated dresser test fixture.
Observing the children as they interact with the fixture will enable researchers to identify
strategies used by the children to climb on furniture and their positions, as well as their force
exertions. Anthropometric data collected from the child will enable researchers to determine
whether body dimensions and weight have an influence on climbing behavior.
In addition to the hands-on interaction with a simulated dresser test fixture, the contractor
will conduct a small focus group (no more than three participants at a time), facilitating
discussions that will address the following topics:
 Children’s interest in climbing and climbing behavior experience
 Description of their strategies when attempting to climb
 Child’s access to clothing storage units in the home
 Child’s interaction with clothing storage units and similar furniture items in the
home.
At the conclusion of the test trial focus groups, the contractor will develop a report that
summarizes the findings. The information gathered will be used to make recommendations
on developing alternative scenarios that simulate children’s climbing strategies so that CSUs
are tested under realistic conditions.
DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS
The recruitment goal is to identify 24 child-parent pairs with children between the ages of 18
months and 5 years old.
Participant Recruitment
Participants will be recruited using a variety of means, including online ads, the University of
Michigan website for study participants (http://UMHealthResearch.org/), posters and flyers
at local elementary schools (seeking siblings of students) and daycare centers, in addition to
leveraging parents/caregivers of study participants to communicate through their networks.
The contractor shall recruit four participants in the age range of 18-23 months, 12
participants in the age range of 24-47 months, and eight participants in the age range of 4871 months. These numbers have been derived after considering children’s capability and
motivation to climb, how much is already known, and practicality. The critical aspect of the

participant recruitment is to get a range of behaviors of interest for a diverse range of body
sizes. CPSC staff was able to locate various videos uploaded online demonstrating how
children climbed or interacted with household items including clothing storage units and
kitchen countertops. The contractor will measure the forces resulting from interactions
determined based on videos as well as from interactions that the child or parent mentions or
demonstrates during the study.
Gifts or Payments
Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided
to participants? [X - $40] Yes [ ] No
BURDEN HOURS
Category of Respondent
Focus Group Participants

No. of
Respondents
48

Participation Time

Burden

120 minutes per participant

96 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the federal government is $89,992.
Total estimated cost to the government for conducting the data collection is as follows:
Number of Participants
Total estimated cost of conducting the study
Cost per completed Participant

48
$89,992
$1,875

This estimate is based on the total cost of the awarded research contract, divided by the
specified number of completed participants.