Cot safety is a big deal. Its a big deal because when a cot that has been put together incorrectly collapses, a small baby could be seriously injured.

Cot safety is very important to us which means we can only re-home a cot if it has never been recalled and complies with the Safety Standard for cots: AS/NZS 2172:2003. If your cot was bought overseas (anywhere but NZ) it will not have a sticker indicating that it complies with this local standard this and we will not be able to re-home it.

It is really important that any household cot donated to Geelong Mums comes with:

• full instructions for safe assembly and use
• all necessary parts in good working order

If you have lost the assembly instructions, we need the manufacturer contact info, the model, and the date and country of manufacture as we may be able to source the correct manual and any missing parts from the manufacturer.

 
The identifying information printed here is typical - this has a serial number for easy identification. If you are unsure please send us a photo of your cot.

If you cannot locate this information on the base slat of the cot, this is a good indication that your cot was manufactured before 2003 and may not meet current mandatory safety standards.  If your cot is Boori, King Parrot or Ikea, you might not be able to find the date of manufacture stamped, however we are confident these models are safe to rehome.

A cot that meets the mandatory safety standards will also have the recommended mattress size stamped on the base slat which helps us fit the correct mattress. We do re-home used mattresses, but only if they are in great condition with no marks or stains.

We ask that you disassemble the cot because it is very difficult to transport a cot fully assembled.

Once you have a copy of the manual, please disassemble the cot and check all the screws, bolts etc against the list of parts in the manual. It is important that the manual and screws are secured in a good quality clear plastic bag and taped to the cot securely. The product manual will be essential for the new family to be able to assemble the cot correctly.

Geelong Mums volunteers double check every cot, ensuring that all the parts are present by checked them off against the assembly instructions before labelling and adding into stock with a unique stock code

Children’s cots, especially those with movable parts like a drop side, need extra care and attention. The drop side of a cot will be used repeatedly, with some degree of force, over an extended period of time. Drop sides can become loose due to the length of use, the quality of the timber, hardware and fastenings used. Cots with drop-down sides were banned in 2012 in the United States, where they have been blamed for the death of at least 46 American children in the past decade.

Cots that are re-assembled and used again can become less safe as a result of missing or loose fittings or damaged components and materials. Please check your cot carefully, check that any plastic housings for the drop side pins have not perished or become brittle with time.

If there is a screw missing or a screw bent, it will have to be replaced before it can be re-homed. Geelong Mums has relationships with many of the cot manufacturers in Australia, and can source replacement parts free of charge. It is helpful however if we can have the part ordered and on the way before you deliver the cot, to speed up the re-homing - especially when we have such a long wait list for cots.

 
(The fourth screw from the left was bent. Boori sent out a replacement in the post the next day)

Supplying household cots that do not comply with the mandatory standard could make Geelong Mums liable for heavy fines. For more details, view the ACCC website. But the risk of a fine is nothing compared to the risk to a child's safety. It is our policy to only pass on nursery gear that we would use for our own children.

Thank-you for reading this and if you have any further questions or comments about cot safety, please contact us.