Product Safety: New Threats and the Biggest Problem Today

LW: Ignorance of the basic requirements needed to ensure safe products. Safe products don't just happen, they require ownership at all levels of a supply chain: the end-user, the distributor, the supplier and the factory that manufactures the item. Any party in that supply chain that assumes that the others are taking care of looking out for product safety is fooling themselves. Everyone needs to be involved in the process and acknowledge that safe products might cost more than the unsafe products of yesterday did.

PM: Right now, are there any types of products that are more complex or troublesome from a product safety standpoint than others (pens vs. electronics, etc.)? Why (or why not) is this the case?

LW: Each product must go through a risk analysis based on its individual characteristics and its intended use. Items intended for use by children have a whole range of requirements that must be reviewed, while others may have fairly minimal requirements. One needs to think about the item and the myriad collection of government regulations that might apply. CPSC, FDA, DOT and the EPA are only a few of the Federal Agencies that have rules that might affect promotional products. At the moment children's products are getting a lot of attention, because CPSIA was only passed in 2008, and Congress did a poor job of drafting the legislation. The idea behind the law is great, but the language in the law is imprecise, which has created a lot of confusion as to its requirements and what is covered.

Until next week!

MONDAY MIKE FACT: Daylight Savings Time is almost over. I could not be more excited. Gaining that extra hours is routinely one of the best moments of my year.