CEN/CLC Guide 14:2009

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-september-2009
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Child safety - Guidance for its inclusion in standards
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: CEN/CLC Guide 14:2009
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/CENELEC Guide 14
Child Safety
Guidance for its Inclusion in Standards

The present guide provides advice and information to assist standards’ writers of CEN/CENELEC 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 replaces CEN
Guide 12 which was adopted by the CEN Technical Board through Resolution BT C020/2006 and which was
approved by CENELEC BT decision D130/C104 for publication as a CEN/CENELEC Guide.

Edition 1 / April 2009
European Committee for European Committee for
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Standardization
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www.cen.eu www.cenelec.eu
CEN/CENELEC Guide 14 Child Safety – Guidance for its inclusion in standards

Contents
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 .10
5.6 Limits to the reduction of risks .10
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 .15
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.1 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 .36
Bibliography .37

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Child Safety – Guidance for its inclusion in standards CEN/CENELEC Guide 14
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 12:2006.

4 Edition 1 / April 2009
CEN/CENELEC Guide 14 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 child safety, 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 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.

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Child Safety – Guidance for its inclusion in standards CEN/CENELEC Guide 14
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.
6 Edition 1 / April 2009
CEN/CENELEC Guide 14 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.
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
...