SIST-V 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
Standardization Electrotechnical
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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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.

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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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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.
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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 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, Purchase information on goods and services intended for consumers
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

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3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this Guide, the terms and definitions given in ISO/IEC Guide 50, ISO/IEC
Guide 51 and the following apply.
3.1
carer
person who exercises responsibility, however temporarily, for an individual child’s safety.
This could be either:
a) non-qualified carer: a parent, grandparent, older sibling who has been given a limited
responsibility over a child, adult acquaintance, a young person who is a baby sitter, or
b) qualified carer: a person trained to exercise responsibility for the safety of children or
young people, for example a trained/qualified teacher, childminder, youth leader or sports
coach.
4 Background to childhood development
4.1 How children’s safety differs from adults’ safety
Childhood is a path rather than a definable state. Although a cross-section of children of a
particular age can appear to exhibit consistent characteristics, the individuals are continually
developing. Some developments expose children to new hazards while others improve their ability
to protect themselves. Therefore, an essential element of child safety is matching the means of
protection to the age of children at risk. The aim should be to make the progression along the
developmental path safe for a child, as well as addressing safety at each stage of childhood.
Children’s abilities, skills, knowledge and judgement develop rapidly throughout childhood.
Increasing levels of awareness and responsibility can be expected as children grow older. Older
children’s height, weight, strength, skill and knowledge overlap the lower ranges for adults.
Children develop at different rates but by the time they reach adulthood most have developed a
level of knowledge that enables them to judge accurately the degree of caution that is appropriate
in familiar or unfamiliar situations. The one common factor all children share is that they are
substantially less wise and less cautious than most adults in relation to hazards. This Guide
therefore focuses on the psychological development of children as well as on their physical
development.
Standards will never be able to completely protect children from the results of their own actions
even when they could be expected to know better. Those products, constructions or services
intended for children cannot be expected to be made safe for unrestricted access by children at all
stages of development.
Both adults and children need protection from hazards. It is not possible to prevent all injuries to
children. Except in relation to deaths and serious injuries it is not even realistic to expect to reduce
children’s risks of accident to the prevailing level for adults. This Guide therefore emphasizes the
need to focus on hazards that are a greater risk to children and/or where the potential injury is
more serious for children.
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4.2 Children’s need to explore, experiment and learn from mistakes
An essential part of the process of a child becoming an adult is the need, and desire, to explore
limits and to try new experiences. Minor injuries are part of every child’s learning process and are a
far more normal part of their lives than is the case for adults. This should be borne in mind when
considering what levels of safety are reasonably practicable within the limits imposed by
functionality and affordability. However, children require greater protection than adults against fatal
or permanent injuries because they may not be capable of assessing the risks involved in
potentially hazardous situations or may be too young to take responsibility.
Often the greatest risk to children is at a single stage of development or with their initial use of a
product, construction or service. To exclude all children from access to or use of a particular
product, construction or service can be counter-productive to the development of their abilities and
their understanding of safe practice. A better approach is to develop strategies for helping children
complete the process of becoming adults safely.
5 Criteria for assessing risks and hazards
5.1 Developmental approach to child safety
In order to make a comprehensive assessment of risks to children and young people a
developmentally based approach to hazard analysis is recommended. This involves three steps.
a) Identifying at which stage(s) of child development, exposure to the product, construction or
service is likely to give rise to potential hazards.
b) Identifying the key physical and behavioural characteristics and abilities of children or young
people at these stages that might place them at higher risk of injury (or risk of more severe
injury) than adults.
c) Identifying practical means of injury prevention that are likely to be effective at these stages of
child development (see Clause 9).
Annex A provides an overview of Annexes B, C and D, which contain tables of guidance criteria
that aim to help to identify any susceptibility of children to injury or any additional risk of injury that
might be expected due to their characteristics or behaviour. Developmental stages that can have a
significant impact on children’s exposure to particular hazards in a product, construction or service,
or on their ability to handle the hazards safely, are indicated. The differences between children and
adults are also shown. Since these tables focus on hazards likely to be unique to children they do
not necessarily show hazards that are identical for both adults and children.
5.2 Adult safety and alternative approaches
This Guide assumes that standards’ writers have already addressed issues of general safety and
the specific safety of adults. Most standards’ writers will have extensive experience of the safety
issues relevant to the subject of the standard, or of child and consumer safety issues generally.
Their combined experience should normally identify all major hazards of the product, construction
or service. There is general safety guidance in ISO/IEC Guide 51 and (on safety aspects of
consumer information) in ISO/IEC Guides 14 and 37.
While this Guide’s child development approach is comprehensive, it might not be the most
appropriate method for all standards projects. ISO/IEC Guide 50 provides an alternative hazard-
based approach that might be more convenient for products, constructions and services intended
primarily for young children. For some areas of children’s lives, comprehensive safety standards
are already well developed, particularly for toys (EN 71), playgrounds (EN 1176) and childcare
items (CEN/TR 13387). These documents are based on a wealth of experience in child safety and
should be considered when dealing with similar hazards for similar age groups.

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5.3 Children’s ages and abilities
Within one product, construction or service standard, it might be necessary to protect children of
different ages against different hazards using very different means. Generally, a hazard will be
specific to a narrow age range of children. This range should be established in order to identify the
most appropriate means of protection. However, care should be taken that protecting against a
hazard for one age group does not introduce new hazards for younger or older children.
Annexes B, C and D show the characteristics of child development and illustrations of the
development and behaviour of children. In principle, each of these needs to be considered
individually. In practice, this assessment will generally involve no more than identifying:
 the stage of development or age at which a specific risk arises, e.g. when a child is first
exposed to it; and
 the stage by which a child may be considered to be at no more risk than adults.
5.4 The roles of carers
Since all products, constructions and services cannot be made safe for unrestricted access by
children, carers may be required or expected to provide a specific protective function. Where this is
the case, this should be made clear in the hazard assessment. Consideration should be given
regarding what information carers may need and how to provide it. Where appropriate, the
requirement for qualified supervision may assist in reducing hazards and improving safety.
There can be residual risks associated with some products, constructions or services that are
impractical to reduce because they are intrinsically linked to function. Voluntary acceptance of or
informal consent to this risk by children, young people and/or their carers may be needed but it is
only valid if those giving it understand their responsibility and have been correctly informed.
It is recognized that some actions are irresponsible within the limitations of what can be expected
at the relevant stage of development. As with adults, standards cannot be expected to protect
children and young people entirely from the results of their actions.
5.5 Cultural, generational and gender differences
The differences between cultures, genders and living environments need to be considered by
standards’ writers.
A further difference is that between generations. Standards’ writers will have passed through
childhood one or two generations earlier than the children for whom they are writing standards but
it should not be assumed that children have acquired all the skills and experience that were normal
for children in the past. For example, many children today have no experience of the hazards of
open fires.
5.6 Limits to the reduction of risks
Overall risk assessment depends on both the potential frequency and severity of injuries. It is
inevitable that children’s exploration and experimentation will result in some minor injuries. It is
usual for children to fall from a low height, trip over on level surfaces and bump into static objects
(or other people). They will probably also be hit by moving objects, e.g. balls or other children.
Apart from the immediate pain of such impacts, the injuries received are usually limited to cuts,
bruises or grazes. Less frequently, but still inevitably, all children at some time have painful
encounters with sharp blades or points and hot objects or liquids. This usually results in no more
than a small cut or a minor burn that quickly heals.

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Because of this, although the acceptability of risk of injury is a controversial issue, the following
circumstances may be judged as not requiring specific protective action:
a) where young children are exploring their environment, and the most severe potential injuries
are limited to bruises, cuts, grazes, sprains or minor burns not requiring professional medical
examination or treatment;
b) where children and young people can be expected to appreciate that an activity is potentially
dangerous and can choose not to participate, provided the potential injuries are limited to
injuries requiring only initial professional medical treatment;
c) where children and young people are taking part in sports and similar leisure/educational
activities under the guidance of a qualified/trained carer and the maximum potential
consequences of injury are limited to temporary disabilities, e.g. simple fractures of limbs.
The greatest emphasis on safety provision should be where the potential consequences could
include death, permanent disability or scarring or where there is a high frequency of accidents.
Where the elimination of hazards for everyone is impossible, preference should be given to the
greater protection of children since they are too young to take the responsibility for accepting such
risks themselves.
In some instances, certain child safety requirements in standards could be counter-productive or in
conflict with safety and use requirements for other groups. A risk assessment should be carried
out to provide a balanced solution.
6 Relating child safety to development stages
6.1 The basic development/age bands
In order to simplify child safety issues wherever possible, it is recommended that consideration
should initially be limited to three major development/age bands of children:
 under 3 years old – babies and young children who need almost constant adult attention and
supervision, both for personal needs and safety;
 3–11 years old – whose safety needs are not easily generalized and for whom individual
differences in behaviour can be as important as differences in physical development or specific
skills;
 12 years old and over – who are within the normal anthropometric range of adults, and who
need direct supervision only in specific situations (usually ones new to them).
Annex A provides further advice on this. The tables in Annexes B, C and D provide detailed
reference information on child exposure, characteristics of child development and means of safety
protection according to stages of development. The tables do not indicate precise age limits to
each band. Where standards need to set advisory age limits, it is necessary to take into account
the severity of the potential injury and the practicality of enforcement.

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6.2 Children aged under 3 years old
Standards for products, constructions or services whose intended users include those under
3 years old should specify strict safety requirements to ensure protection from hazards despite the
“abuse” that such children will give. This does not mean that all such products, constructions or
services need to be safe for unsupervised use by those under 3 years old.
These requirements should not just apply to products, constructions or services specifically labelled
as intended for children under 3 years old. They should also apply to anything that carers might
reasonably expect to be suitable for use by some or all children under 3 years old (with appropriate
supervision). Where the only exposure likely for children of this age group is contact rather than
active use, e.g. space-heating appliances, the safety requirements can be limited to hazards of
contact. Some requirements for products, constructions or services will for safety, or other reasons,
need to be restricted to a narrower band of children, e.g. under 6 months or 18 months and over.
The tables in Annexes B and C provide guidance, with those in Annex C being broken down into
narrower stages of development.
Some injuries to this age group may arise from the behaviour of adults or other children.
6.3 Children and young people aged 3–11 years old
Products, constructions or services intended for use by, or intended to appeal to, children of any
age under 12 years should be required to give an explicit indication of the minimum development
age/stage for safe use and/or exposure. This is to avoid any misconception that they are safe for
use by children under a certain age when this is not so. On the other hand, products, constructions
or services not aimed at children at all should not routinely be required to indicate unsuitability for
those under a certain age unless carers need to take exceptional protective measures.
The safety needs of the 3–11 year age group are not so easily generalized and need to be
considered carefully on an individual basis. Generally, this age group can access any household
item if they really want to, so physical barriers are of limited use. Moreover, they are not constantly
watched by carers or other adults. While it is desirable to design out as many hazards as possible,
these children have to protect themselves from residual hazards. Consequently, training by
instructions for correct use and associated hazard warnings are likely to be appropriate. Particular
consideration should therefore be given to how essential safety information is to be conveyed to
this age group. Except where essential, warnings should be avoided. However, when warnings
have to be used they should be consistent with children’s lack of experience, poor judgement, and
their level of understanding and reading of language.
It should be made clear which warnings and written instructions are to be addressed to children
and which are to be addressed to their carers. If verbal instruction and supervision by these adults
is necessary to ensure the safety of child users of an item, this should be included in the consumer
information requirements.
Within this age group, individual differences in behaviour, e.g. concentration span, can be as
important to a child’s ability to undertake an activity safely as differences in physical development
or skills. For some standards, it may be appropriate to include requirements to provide further
guidance to carers. This guidance should provide information on how to judge when a child is
temperamentally ready to accept the required level of responsibility for aspects of their own safety.

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6.4 Young people aged 12 years old and over
In many ways 12 and 13 year-olds have more in common with 14–18 year-olds than with children
under 12 years old. Developing an adult sense of safety is, however, a longer process.
Standards’ writers should assume that most products, constructions or services aimed at
consumers should be safe for use by young people aged 12 years or over after appropriate adult
instruction and initial supervision.
A limited range of products, constructions or services should be considered not safe for
unrestricted use by all 12 year-olds and over. It should be made clear to potential users what
specific preparation, training, supervision or skill is necessary and/or what is the nature of the
hazard.
In general, restrictions based solely on an age higher than 12 years old should not be adopted as
requirements in standards, without consideration of how they are to be enforced.
NOTE National laws and European legislation might impose such restrictions.
7 Using appropriate terminology
7.1 Children
M/293 defines all under-14 year-olds as children, but this definition might not be accepted outside
of standards bodies. People can cease to be “children” anywhere between 9 and 21 years old
depending on legal tradition and/or use of language.
7.2 Carers
For the purposes of this Guide, “carer” as defined in Clause 3, has a wide meaning. Therefore, the
term(s) used in warnings, instructions and information should identify the appropriate carers. For
example, where a qualification is not relevant it may be sufficient to refer generally to an “adult”,
while in swimming pools it is important to distinguish between the functions of lifeguards and
instructors.
7.3 Communicating with the target groups
It is also important that the warnings, instructions and information should be capable of being
understood by the relevant carers. Wherever possible, “young person” and “young adult” should
not be used in preference to terms likely to appeal more to the individuals addressed, e.g.
“students”, “trainees”, “new recruits” or more informal terms.

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8 Assessing child safety
8.1 Summarizing issues that need to be addressed under the Child Safety
Mandate
By following the guidance given, it should be possible to identify all the specific child safety issues
that may need to be addressed. Each issue can then be described in some or all of the following
terms:
 the type of exposure;
 the child characteristics that result in a increased risk;
 the particular stage of development during which this the risk may arise;
 the nature and severity of the potential injury;
 the abilities and competencies that protect adults/older children.
A more comprehensive list of questions for considering these issues is given in Annex E.
8.2 Foreseeing exposure
The expected form of exposure of children and young people to a product, construction or service
may not extend to all aspects of full adult use. The requirements for safety information should
therefore be limited to the degree and aspects of contact that are foreseeable for them.
It may be reasonable to assume that under-14 year-olds will not have any foreseeable exposure to
particular products, constructions or services. In this case no reference to child safety need be
made in the relevant standards. This is likely where access to use of the product, construction or
service is effectively denied. This might be for equipment used only in a workshop or other
premises where entry is limited to employees and authorized visitors. However, equipment that
might be left unattended should not automatically be considered as exempt unless it can be
adequately secured against use or access. Similarly, it should not be assumed that prohibitions on
children purchasing products or services will prevent access. Children might gain access through
vending machines or mail order, or through items being discarded or left unattended by adults, e.g.
cigarette lighters left lying in the home.
The first step in addressing child safety is to evaluate the inherent contact hazards of the product,
construction or service. These hazards could be chemical, radiological, electrical, mechanical,
thermal, fire, noise, ergonomic or allergic, etc.
The second step is to address the expected or intended use of the product, construction or service
by adults (or children if they are the intended users).
Many of the hazards identified in these stages will affect children. Many of the safety requirements
for adults specified in a standard will also adequately address the safety of children.

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8.3 Analysing reports of accidents involving children and young people
The development or revision of a standard should include an analysis of available reports of
injuries and hazardous incidents involving the particular product, construction or service. These are
likely to include some reports of injuries to children. These should not be dismissed as accidents
arising from misuse or abuse by children. If adults or older children do not have similar accidents
with the product, construction or service, then how have they become more competent ? What is
reasonable to expect of children generally of that age or stage of development ? Annexes B, C and
D provide detailed guidance on risks specific to children according to the stages of child
development.
There are many potentially useful sources of reported incidents, although no one report can be
expected to give a complete picture. The European Union Injury Prevention Programme (EU-IPP) –
including the former European Home and Leisure Accident Surveillance System (EHLASS) –
provides brief descriptions of injuries involving most types of consumer products, constructions and
services. Academic literature or research reports that analyze the issues in more detail may have
been published. Other potentially valuable sources include fatal accident reports, manufacturers’
files of complaints and product returns, or press cuttings.
All relevant sources should be checked to ensure that lessons learned elsewhere are not ignored.
The absence of an accident history, a small number of accidents or low severity of accidents
should not be taken as an automatic presumption of low risk.
8.4 Foreseeing other potential hazards to children and young people
Analysis of previous accidents should not be expected to identify all potential hazards. Some
incidents, e.g. choking, occur only infrequently but could result in permanent injury. Also, adequate
accident data will not exist for new (or radically different) types of products, constructions or
services.
Standards’ writers should attempt to predict other potential hazards by considering which children
and young people will be exposed to the product, construction or service, and whether the type of
interaction is likely to differ from adult use and contact. Annexes B, C and D are intended to help
standards’ writers foresee potential hazards through the following analytical steps.
a) Identifying the key development stage(s) for exposure. Where children are not the intended
users of a household product, exposure is prevented initially by either parental care or lack of
interest on the part of the child. A child might also have only passing contact with the product
as a static object. However, at some stage young people will start to use most products,
constructions or services. Ideally, this will be through a process of initial instruction by
experienced adults, followed by decreasing supervision until the new user is at no more risk
than an adult user. However, for some products, constructions or services, it should be
expected that children will want to make their own 'explorations' without adequate safety
awareness or adult supervision.
b) Identifying the key physical and behavioural characteristics. Once the key development stages
for exposure have been identified, the second stage is to look at the characteristics of children
that put them at higher risk of injury (or risk of more severe injury) than adults. This could be
due to physical differences, but is more likely to be associated with behavioural expectations.
Some household products can be accessible throughout childhood, but special concern for
child safety is likely to be limited to a short stage of development for each product, e.g. when
the child first starts to crawl, first visits shops on their own or first helps their parents to cook a
meal. In contrast, for products such as bicycles and facilities such as swimming pools, both of
which are used by all ages of children, each stage of development might bring new hazards as
well as overcoming earlier ones.

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Child Safety – Guidance for its inclusion in standards CEN/CENELEC Guide 14
c) Identifying the relevant abilities and safety competencies. These are the means of self-
protection that all children will eventually develop so that they will be at no greater risk than
adults. The age or stage at which these can be relied upon defines the upper limit of this
hazard as a safety issue specific to children or young people.
9 Approaches to protection
9.1 Identifying effective methods of protection
The final step is to identify for each issue an appropriate and effective method of injury prevention
or risk reduction (if complete prevention is not practicable). This might involve:
 trying to restrict access by children who are under a certain age and/or have not demonstrated
the necessary level of competence; or
 changing design or performance requirements so that the risk or severity of the hazard is
reduced for children and not increased for adults.
Specific consideration should be given to:
 what (if any) instruction and supervision by adults is required; and
 how essential safety information is to be conveyed to under-14 year-old users.
Tables C.2 and D.2 summarize the potential effectiveness of different methods of protection at
different stages of development.
To protect the youngest children, hazards should be designed out or all access should be
prevented. Generally, preventing access can only be effective if carers and supervisors are aware
of this advice and the reason for it. Physical restrictions, e.g. locks and barriers, may be a
necessary addition to information provision.
For older children, e.g. school-age, the focus should be on helping them to recognize and avoid
hazards. As they grow older it is more effective to guide them into safe use of each product,
construction or service at an appropriate stage of development through safety instruction and initial
supervision. Through being instructed to perform a wide range of normal adult tasks safely they
should gain the knowledge to anticipate hazards in new situations and to work out ways of handling
them.
9.2 Recommending minimum ages or other characteristics
Where products, constructions or services are unsuitable for use by some or all children
...