Nychelle Fleming, the Consumer Product Safety Commission representative who oversees shopping carts, responded to questions about their safety. Here is the full text of the email interview. The CPSC is the government agency “charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from thousands of types of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children,” according to the agency’s site.

Question: I noticed the number of shopping cart injuries from falls has increased dramatically over the years. Is there a theory why? Editor’s note: This question was based on this Shopping Cart Injuries report on the CPSC site, which has dated numbers. More updated numbers show increases, but which are less dramatic.

Answer: Our NEISS clearinghouse database available online shows the following statistics. The Commission has not conducted a study on shopping carts, therefore I cannot confirm a “dramatic” or statistically significant increase. It is also difficult to guess at the fluctuation as it is mostly flat, with a small increase in the last 2 years. The increase could also be due to an increase in reporting, it is hard to speculate.

Question: What do you recommend to consumers who find stores with inadequate and unsafe shopping carts?

Answer: CPSC conducted an information and education campaign, where we recommended parents/shoppers should go directly to store management and request the availability of seat belts in carts for their children and carts in good repair since the leading cause of shopping cart related injuries is from falls. Some retail stores have safety belts at the Customer Service desk that consumers can request. Also we worked with industry to provide educational materials for parents (posters and other signage) at the point of sale. CPSC also worked with the Food Marketing Institute and the Safe Strap company during that campaign, who provided safety restraints at a reduced cost to industry.

According to the ASTM F 2372 – 04, specification for shopping carts, each retailer/owner shall implement a program of safety inspection and maintenance based upon manufacturers recommended safety inspection and maintenance, providing for the duties and responsibilities necessary to care for the shopping carts and restraint system.

Question: Are there any regulations that dictate the safety of shopping carts and, if so, what are they?

Answer: This is the shopping cart standard from ASTM.

Question: How serious are shopping cart injuries in relation to other consumer safety issues your agency oversees?

Answer: For comparing shopping cart injures to other products typically used by children under 5, you would need to check our NEISS database.

Question: Are there any retailers or government agencies with programs that are particularly innovative with regards to preventing shopping cart safety?

Answer: I have attached some shopping cart safety materials

http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/5075.html Shopping Cart Safety Alert

http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/PRHTML97/97117.html

(Press Release with initial shopping cart safety campaign launch in 1997)

ASTM F 2372-04- specification for Shopping Carts - requires that retailers inform and educate to raise awareness of shopping cart safety. Examples of educational material are included in the standard. How the retailers implement the requirements are left up to individual retailers. Therefore, short of visiting stores, the CPSC staff has no way of knowing who’se most innovative in this regard.