Prioritizing Safety - ASTM Compliance Load Testing
We are working hard to comply with standards for toy safety. The ASTM Standard gives us a framework for safety and design. We use two standards, the ASTM Home Playground Safety Standard and the ASTM Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Toy Safety, as a benchmark and compliance standard to ensure our products are meeting the highest quality.
As dads, we are huge proponents of risky play, adventure and fun, but we don't want our toys to be unnecessarily dangerous or harmful. Safety testing and compliance ensures that as we push the boundaries in our products and design thinking, we never compromise user safety.
Here is a quick rundown on Load Testing compliance:
Payloads are dictated by product category, age allowance, and surface area. The playBOX was designed for 1 - 5 year olds, so we take the 95th percentile weight of a 5 year old child, calculate the number of children allowed on a feature based on available surface area, and then multiply this weight by x3 to determine the testing payload. The product must be able to sustain this excessive load for 5 minutes without structural failure. This type of rigorous testing ensures our products are designed with a quality that endures.
Step 1: Identify relevant load test
Step 2: Determine age allowance
Step 3: Calculate surface area
Step 4: Apply load for 5 minutes
