Standard - Children's Nightwear

The Product Safety Standards (Children's Nightwear & Limited Daywear Having Reduced Fire Hazard) Regulations 2005

Standard information

The standard applies to all children's nightwear (from size 00 to 14) and to some daywear (knitted all-in-one garments from size 00-2). It does not include T-shirts or leggings.

The 2005 regulations declare AS/ NZS 1249:2003 Children's nightwear and limited daywear having reduced fire hazard (with variations) to be a product safety standard.

Categories

The standard creates four categories of acceptable garments for nightwear:

Category One: garments made from fabrics with low flame propagation properties;

Category Two: garments, which because of their design, are less likely to catch alight and if they do, the spread of flames is reduced because of the design features;

Category Three: all-in-one style garments made predominantly from knitted fabrics, in sizes 00 to 2;

Category Four: garments that are assigned a high flammability rating.

The standard establishes burn tests for each category. For Categories 2, 3 and 4 it also sets out design/ dimension specifications. Garments that do not meet the requirements of any of these categories are considered to have a very high flammability rating and are therefore unacceptable for supply as nightwear.

Categories 1, 2 and 3 must have a white label stating 'LOW FIRE DANGER' .

Category 4 garments must have a red label with a fire emblem, stating 'WARNING - HIGH FIRE DANGER - KEEP WAY FROM FIRE'.

Enforcing the standard

The Commerce Commission is responsible for enforcing this standard and has published some guidelines.

Purchasing the standard

AS/ NZS 1249:2003 Children's nightwear and limited daywear having reduced fire hazard can be purchased from Standards New Zealand, see their website for details.

Note

The new Product Safety Standard for children’s nightwear came into force on 8 September 2005. However, the 1999 regulation will remain in effect until 12 August 2006 to allow for a transition period for manufacturers, importers, suppliers and retailers to comply with the new standard.