The Bunk Beds (Entrapment Hazards) (Safety) Regulations 1987

3.—(1) A bunk bed shall be so constructed as to prevent any reasonable possibility of any part of the body of a child under six years of age becoming wedged or trapped in any part of the bed’s structure which is at or above the height of any part of the bed’s sleeping surface (including the under-surface) so as to give rise to any risk of death or serious personal injury, including, but without prejudice to the generality of that, any risk of strangulation, suffocation or injury to the neck or spinal column.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1) above and subject to paragraph (3) below, a bunk bed shall be so constructed as to ensure that no gaps, other than permissible gaps, exist at or above the height mentioned in paragraph (1) above—

(a)in the sleeping surface; or

(b)in the head-board; or

(c)in the foot-board; or

(d)in any retaining structure at the side of the sleeping surface; or

(e)between the sleeping surface and any of the components mentioned in subparagraphs (a) to (d) above; or

(f)between any ladder (whether a fixed and permanent part of the bed or designed to be hooked onto the bed) and —

(i)the sleeping surface; or

(ii)any of the components mentioned in subparagraphs (a) to (d) above.

(3) Nothing in paragraph (2) above shall prevent—

(a)the existence in a bunk bed of gaps arising from reasonable manufacturing tolerances; or

(b)the existence of any gap in any retaining structure at the side of the sleeping surface of a bunk bed where the purpose of such a gap is to allow access to that surface by a person intending to sleep on it, provided that any such gap is at least 300 millimetres wide.