If You See Something, Say Something: Even With Promo Products

It’s a phrase seen in airports, train stations and other public transport areas, as well as in neighborhoods, parks, public buildings and schools. Law enforcement and security teams urge people to pay attention, help out and report suspicious activity. If You See Something, Say Something—It’s a phrase that’s intended to alert and protect.

Customer reviews serve a similar purpose, as consumers increasingly are prone to review products and services they purchase and, for many, these reviews have an impact on purchasing decisions. So, overall, it’s probably a given that it’s a good idea to share what you know and save other folks from the risk of unsafe activity.

But, how about consumer products that you know are unsafe? How do you “say something” and to whom? What about when you’re shopping, and you want to find out the risk factors of a product before buying it? Where can you get (much less give) that information?

The good news is that there is a resource, and part of my mission today is to help make sure that people know about it. Mandated as part of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008, www.saferproducts.gov was created as a publicly available database that allows anyone to search consumer products and determine risk factors associated therewith.

The reporting of unsafe products through the Safer Products initiative can be done by anyone. Consumers, child-service providers, health-care professionals, government officials and public-safety entities can submit incidents of harm involving consumer products, thereby creating a database of valuable information for anyone who cares enough to look.

After a report is made, manufacturers (which, in our industry, include importers of record) and private labelers identified receive a copy of the report. Those suppliers then have the opportunity to comment on them. Completed reports and manufacturer comments are published online in the database at www.saferproducts.gov.

While it sounds like a good idea, and it’s certainly a well-intentioned move, one of the impediments to the general concept of “If You See Something, Say Something” is whether or not the individual making the report is able to stay anonymous. Anticipating the same concern here, when a report is made to the saferproducts.gov website, the process does require an individual to supply contact information. This is so that the “CPSC can follow up or clarify details on your report.” But, the good news is that prior to the report being released to the supplier, the individual filing the report has the opportunity to opt out of his or her name and contact information being shared. If an individual does not opt out, it allows a supplier to contact the person submitting a report to learn more in an effort to improve their product. Either way, an individual’s contact information is never made public on saferproducts.gov, which is a good thing.

When you think about all the stories over the years involving children’s toys, household chemicals, tipping appliances, fires and electrical shocks, and the like, had someone not reported the incidents, the injuries could have been a whole lot worse, and a lot more plentiful.

Saferproducts.gov may have been around for some time, but not everyone knows about it. The CPSC is making an effort to change that, with a sense of humor as part of the mix. To that end, over the course of the past couple of years they have created some short YouTube videos designed to raise awareness. While “Chair-tastrophe” and “Toasted Toaster” each have about 18,000 views in two years, the clear winner is "Toy Chopper Frenzy" with more than 30,000 views.

So, how about you? The next time you see something that could be a fire, electrical, chemical or mechanical hazard, now that you know about saferproducts.gov, do you think you’ll be inclined to pop over and submit a report?