Consumer Alert: How Safe Is Your Child's Crib?

Aug. 18, 2011 -- Joe Shamie, president of Delta Children's Products, one of the nation's largest producers of nursery and toddler furniture, says he can't sleep at night unless he knows babies are sleeping safely in his company's cribs.

"A crib is the one product where you're going to put your child to sleep, and leave the room," Shamie, himself a father of four, told "Good Morning America." "The majority of their day is spent inside the crib."

That's why his company, Delta, puts every one of its cribs through a series of punishing tests in a secret lab, designed to ensure every square inch of each crib is tested.

Click here to read the top crib safety tips every parent should know.

"72,000 times we are shaking this crib back and forth, back and forth, trying to see if any screw loosens up," Shamie said as he demonstrated the method to "GMA's" Elisabeth Leamy during a tour of the company's lab. "If a screw loosens up, we fail."

Web Extra: Take a behind-the-scenes look inside Delta's crib safety lab.

Before a Delta crib arrives in a store or on the doorstep of a new nursery, it must first survive five rigorous tests in the Delta lab.

The first test, the screw test, is followed by a mattress support test designed to make sure that any "monkeys jumping on the bed" won't get hurt.

Test number three involves 30 pounds of hammering to ensure that cribs won't fall apart if older brothers and sisters climb in too.

The lab's fourth test ensures the crib's railing can withstand even greater weight.

"In this particular case we're trying to emulate a parent putting their foot up and leaning over and talking to their child, putting pressure on the side rail," Shamie explained. "So we hang the crib, and then we add 100 pounds to the side and we let it hang as dead weight on the side of the crib."

The fifth, and final, test involves using a lead gun to make sure the crib does not have any traces of lead or other heavy metals.