It's the softest – and cutest! Bean bag chairs are a popular type of chair manufactured from vinyl or leather material. They contain small pieces of Styrofoam or PVC pellets inside the bag. When a person sits in the chair, the outer material shapes around the body. Bean bag chairs were particularly popular during the 1960s and 1970s, but slowly began to fade out during the next decade. Their attractiveness resumed in the mid 1990s as newer, more comfortable versions of the popular chair emerged onto the market. Bean bag chairs are commonly used as a comfortable and fun means of lounging or relaxing. The filling used in bean bag chairs varies from small pellets to shredded bits of polyurethane foam. Generally, the beads used to fill a bean bag chair are approximately 3-9 mm in diameter. However, micro-beads have now been introduced onto the market. These tiny bean bag chair beans can be as small as 1 mm in diameter. A suffocation and choking hazard exists as a result of children unzipping the bean bag chairs and playing with the filling fibers, or crawling inside of the bag.

In addition, inappropriately zippered bean bag chairs may release fibrous filling which can present a choking or asphyxiation danger. Bean bag chairs not meeting Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) standard regulations are subject to recall.chair ottoman set leather CPSC standard regulations for bean bag chairs were put into effect in November 1996. crazy creek chairs on saleThe CPSC requires that all bean bag chairs available on the market be modified in an effort to prevent young children from opening the zipper and gaining access to the fibrous materials inside. best affordable ergonomic office chairAny bean bag chair that is capable of being refilled must possess a zipper with a lock that can only be opened with a special tool. wooden chair rental chicago

All other chairs must either have a disabled zipper or no zipper at all. Permanent warning labels must also be present on bean bag chairs. In an effort to ensure that proper, sturdy fabrics that will not easily rip or tear are used in the creation of the bag, further CPSC standards require durability tests on the materials used in the manufacturing of bean bag chairs.white fan back wicker chair for sale At least five deaths related to bean bag chairs were reported to the CPSC by 1995, prior to the government regulations set forth in 1996. dining chairs cheap melbourneThe deaths occurred when children unzipped the chairs and crawled inside. salon chairs price in indiaThe small, fibrous pellets were inhaled, causing asphyxiation resulting in death.barber chairs 4 sale

At least 27 other incidences where children have choked on the pellets were also reported prior to CPSC standards. In July 1995, as part of an ongoing investigation concerning bean bag chairs, five manufacturers of the chairs announced a voluntary recall of more than 140,000 bean bag chairs. used brown leather recliner chairPrior to this, more than 12 million bean bag chairs were included by 10 other manufacturers. The five companies included in the voluntary recall in July 1995 include: B.A.T, Golden Needle co., Holbrook-Patterson, Inc., Lazy Bean, and Lewco Corp. The bean bag chairs involved in the recall were sold at specialty stores, educational supply companies, and through catalogs between 1989 and 1995. Thirty thousand bean bag chairs manufactured by Baseline Design of Linwood, Pennsylvania, were recalled as a result of suffocation and strangulation hazards. Three reports were received noting young children opening the zipper on the bean bag chair easily and freely.

One child inhaled the beads and required medical attention. The beanbag chairs were sold at Wal-mart stores nationwide from September 1999 to December 1999. Motifs included a football shape, baseball shape, basketball shape, a smiley face, and solid neon colors in green, yellow, blue, and pink. The bean bag chairs had a 12-inch double zipper, and contained small polystyrene beads that posed a choking and strangulation hazard.The mother of the Utah toddler who suffocated under a bean bag last week as a child care employee sat unaware on top of him is demanding answers as she struggles to come to terms with the toddler’s death. “We’re barely coping, barely making it. He was the biggest life of the house,” Danielle Sanchez tells PEOPLE of her 1-year-old son, Leonardo. “There’s just a void here. It’s just very, very difficult.” Leonardo, who Sanchez called her “little Leo,” was playing under a pile of bean bag chairs at the West Jordan Child Center last week when an employee sat on the pile to read the children a story – suffocating the little boy in the process.

“He was such a bright, bright boy. He had such a loving, loving personality,” she tells PEOPLE. “He just loved being a part of what everyone else was a part of.” Sanchez says she was in disbelief when officers told her what happened. “I had to say it back to the officer, ‘So, you’re telling me right now that a teacher sat on my son? Sat on my baby? ‘ ” Sanchez recalls. “And he said, ‘Yes.’ She adds: “I have questions … it’s just frustrating, confusing. I want my baby boy back. And that’s not going to happen.” The mother says she got the call just after 10 a.m., “It was a daycare worker just screaming that ‘He’s not breathing.’ Sanchez arrived at a local hospital and struggled to learn the details of what happened to her son. She says it wasn’t until the boy was airlifted to a second hospital that police told her the details. It was not unusual for her son to play in the pile of bean bags, Sanchez tells PEOPLE.

“I can see the kids playing in the bean bags because when I’ve gone to pick them up, they’ve been playing in them and they’ll jump out and surprise me,” she says, noting that Leonardo was playing with another boy that day. “The boy came out [of the bean bags] but my son didn’t.” Sanchez says Leonardo, who would have turned 2 this week, was under the chair for up to 15 minutes before the employee realized he was there. She says the employee could have read one story and started another during that time. “Why wasn’t he kept track of? He’s the one you watched out for,” she says through tears. “If he was kept track of they would have known he was playing in the pile of bags.” The mother says she has “mixed emotions” about the employee who sat on her son. “My heart drops to the floor for her knowing she has to live with that for the rest of her life,” Sanchez tells PEOPLE. “I feel for her, yet I’m upset. I’m angry and I’m saddened.”