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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3682

To require that 4-gallon to 6-gallon buckets distributed in commerce bear

a permanent label warning of a potential drowning hazard to young

children, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 22, 1993

Mr. PALLONE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Energy and Commerce

A BILL

To require that 4-gallon to 6-gallon buckets distributed in

commerce bear a permanent label warning of a potential

drowning hazard to young children, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bucket Drowning Pre5 vention Act of 1993.’’

6 SEC. 2. LABELING STANDARD REQUIREMENTS.

7 On October 1, 1994, or 240 days after the date of

8 the enactment of this title, whichever first occurs, there
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1 is established and effective a consumer product safety

2 standard under section 9 of the Consumer Product Safety

3 Act (15 U.S.C. 2058), to eliminate or reduce the risk of

4 injury or death resulting from infants falling into 4-gallon

5 to 6-gallon buckets containing liquid. Such standard, when

6 established, shall require straight sided or slightly tapered,

7 open head containers with a capacity of more than 4 gal8 lons and less than 6 gallons (referred to in this Act as

9 a ‘‘bucket’’), to bear one warning label in English and

10 Spanish. The label shall meet the following requirements:

11 (1) The label shall be permanent so that such

12 label cannot be removed, torn or defaced without the

13 aid of tools or solvents.

14 (2) The label shall be at least 7 inches in

height, and 31 15 ⁄2 inches in width, or any larger size

16 as the labeler may choose.

17 (3) The label shall be centered on one side of

18 the bucket just below the point where the handle is

19 inserted.

20 (4) The label shall have a border or other form

21 of contrast around its edges to delineate it from any

22 other information on the bucket.

23 (5) The label shall bear (A) the signal word

24 ‘‘WARNING’’ in both English and Spanish, in bold

25 uppercase lettering, and (B) in upper and lower case
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1 lettering the words ‘‘Children Can Fall Into Bucket

2 and Drown. Keep Children Away From Buckets

3 With Even a Small Amount of Liquid.’’, with an

4 equivalent Spanish translation in at least the same

5 type size as English. The signal word panel shall be

6 preceded by a safety alert symbol consisting of an

7 exclamation mark in a triangle.

8 (6) The label shall be clear and conspicuous

9 and in contrasting colors.

10 (7) The label shall include a picture of a child

11 falling into a bucket containing liquid. An encircled

12 slash symbol shall be superimposed over, and sur13 round the pictorial. The picture shall be positioned

14 between the signal word panel and the message

15 panel.

16 SEC. 3. CERTAIN BUCKETS NOT AFFECTED.

17 The standard established by section 2 applies only to

18 buckets manufactured or imported on or after the effective

19 date of such standard, and buckets manufactured or im20 ported before such effective date may be sold without the

21 warning label required by section 2 even though such sales

22 occur after that date. The Consumer Product Safety Com23 mission, by rule, shall prohibit a manufacturer, filler, dis24 tributor, and retailer from stockpiling buckets to which

25 consumer product safety standards established by section
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1 2 of this title would have applied but for the preceding

2 sentence. For purposes of this section, the term ‘‘stock3 piling’’ shall have the same meaning as that provided by

4 section 9(g)(2) of the Consumer Product Safety Act.

5 SEC. 4. PROHIBITED ACTS.

6 (a) REMOVAL OF LABEL.—Once placed on a bucket

7 pursuant to the standard provided by section 2, it shall

8 be a prohibited act under section 19 of the Consumer

9 Product Safety Act for any person in the chain of distribu10 tion of the bucket to intentionally cover, obstruct, tear,

11 deface or remove the label.

12 (b) CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY STANDARD.—The

13 standard established by section 2 of this title shall be con14 sidered a consumer product safety standard established

15 under the Consumer Product Safety Act.

16 SEC. 5. EXISTING LABELS.

17 Notwithstanding section 2, any bucket label in use

18 on September 1, 1993, may, if such label is substantially

19 in conformance with the requirements of paragraphs (3),

20 (4), (5), and (6) of section 2, continue to be placed on

21 buckets until 12 months after the date of the enactment

22 of this title. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence,

23 buckets subject to the provisions of this section must bear

24 both an English and Spanish language label on and after
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1 the effective date of the standard established by section

2 2.

3 SEC. 6. AMENDMENTS.

4 Section 553 of title 5, United States Code, shall apply

5 with respect to the Consumer Product Safety Commis6 sion’s issuance of any amendments or changes to the buck7 et labeling standard established by section 2 of this title.

8 Sections 7 and 9 of the Consumer Product Safety Act

9 shall not apply to such amendments or changes.

10 SEC. 7. RESPONSIBILITY FOR LABELING.

11 (a) LABELING.—The standard established by section

12 2 requires the labeling of buckets covered by such stand13 ard to be the responsibility of the manufacturer of any

14 such buckets, unless otherwise specified by contract be15 tween the manufacturer, and either the filler, distributor,

16 or retailer of such buckets. Under no circumstances shall

17 any such bucket enter the stream of commerce without

18 such label.

19 (b) TIME FOR PLACING LABELS.—The required label

20 must be on the bucket at the time it is sold or delivered

21 to the end user of the bucket or its contents or, in the

22 case of a bucket intended to be sold to the public in an

23 empty state, at the time it is shipped to a retailer for sale

24 to the public.
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1 SEC. 8. PERFORMANCE STANDARD.

2 (a) PERFORMANCE STANDARD.—Within 30 days fol3 lowing the date of enactment of this title, the Consumer

4 Product Safety Commission shall commence a proceeding

5 under the Consumer Product Safety Act for the issuance

6 of a performance standard for buckets to address the

7 drowning hazard associated with this product. Section 553

8 of title 5, United States Code, shall apply with respect

9 to the issuance of such standard. Sections 7 and 9 of the

10 Consumer Product Safety Act shall not apply to the issu11 ance of such standard. Such standard shall take effect at

12 such time as may be prescribed by the Consumer Product

13 Safety Commission, but in no event later than 15 months

14 following the date of the enactment of this title. The

15 Consumer Product Safety Commission shall consider any

16 American Society for Testing and Materials voluntary per17 formance standard in existence prior to such date of enact18 ment.

19 (b) LABELING REQUIREMENTS.—The labeling re20 quirements under section 2 shall not apply to buckets cer21 tified by the Consumer Product Safety Commission as

22 meeting the performance standard in subsection (a).

23 SEC. 9. CONSULTATION.

24 To avoid duplicative and conflicting labeling, the

25 Consumer Product Safety Commission shall complete a
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1 consultation with relevant Federal agencies within 30 days

2 following the date of enactment of this Act.

3 SEC. 10. REQUIREMENT FOR CPSC STUDY.

4 (a) The Consumer Product Safety Commission shall

5 conduct a study to determine:

6 (1) consumer use patterns of new and used 4-

7 to 6- gallon steel and metal buckets; and

8 (2) the prevalence of incidents of death or in9 jury to children associated with the use of such con10 tainers.

11 The study also shall be designed to identify use patterns

12 that may signify that such containers are being used by

13 consumers in and around a household, residence, school

14 or otherwise. The study shall be completed within 12

15 months of the date of enactment. The study shall be re16 peated for two consecutive years following completion of

17 the initial study. The study shall be repeated if necessary

18 to track any changes in use patterns or to identify inci19 dents of death or injury.

20 (b) During the pendency of this study and in the ab21 sence of any regulation of 4- to 6-gallon containers by the

22 Commission thereafter, metal containers which would oth23 erwise be required to comply with the labeling require24 ments of section 3 are exempt from such requirements.

25 For the purposes of section 26 of the Consumer Product
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1 Safety Act, such exemption shall be considered a consumer

2 product safety standard. Upon review of the results of the

3 study, the CPSC shall decide whether to continue this ex4 emption, to require compliance by metal containers, or to

5 consider further study in the future.

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