# Petition Requesting Labeling of Weightlifting Bench Press Benches To Reduce or Prevent Deaths Due to Asphyxia/Anoxia (Petition No. CP 03-3)
**AGENCY:**
Consumer Product Safety Commission.
**ACTION:**
Notice.
**SUMMARY:**
The Commission has received a petition (CP 03-3) requesting that the Commission require labeling of weightlifting bench press benches to reduce or prevent deaths from asphyxia/anoxia due to being trapped beneath a bench press barbell. The Commission solicits written comments concerning the petition.
**DATES:**
The Office of the Secretary must receive comments on the petition by September 16, 2003.
**ADDRESSES:**
Comments on the petition, preferably in five copies, should be mailed to the Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, DC 20207, telephone (301) 504-0800, or delivered to the Office of the Secretary, Room 501, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, Maryland 20814. Comments may also be filed by facsimile to (301) 504-0127 or by email to *[email protected].* Comments should be captioned “Petition CP 03-3, Petition for Labeling of Bench Press Benches.” A copy of the petition is available for inspection at the Commission's Public Reading Room, Room 419, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, Maryland. The petition is also available on the CPSC Web site at *http://www.cpsc.gov.*
**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:**
Rockelle Hammond, Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, DC 20207; telephone (301) 504-6833, e-mail *[email protected].*
**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:**
The Commission has received correspondence from V. Patteson Lombardi, Ph.D., requesting that the Commission require a warning label on both uprights of all “manufactured, publicly available” weightlifting bench press benches. The petitioner asserts that the labeling is necessary to reduce or eliminate deaths due to asphyxia/anoxia caused by being trapped under a bench press barbell. The petitioner provides information concerning a number of deaths he states involve such incidents.
The Commission is docketing the correspondence as a petition under provisions of the Consumer Product Safety Act, 15 U.S.C. 2051-2084.
Interested parties may obtain a copy of the petition by writing or calling the Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, DC 20207; telephone (301) 504-0800. The petition is available on the CPSC Web site at *http://www.cpsc.gov.* A copy of the petition is also available for inspection from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, in the Commission's Public Reading Room, Room 419, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, Maryland.
Dated: July 10, 2003.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.