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PRODUCT SAFETY: FIRST IT MAKES YOU SICK,
THEN IT MAKES YOU BETTER
By Tim Brown, MAS
THINK
PRODUCT
RESPONSIBILITY
MARCH 2016 •
PPB
• 67
Why Product Safety Aware?
The industry’s progress in
product safety education over the
past 12 months has marked the
dawn of a new age in promotional
products. For the first time at
Expo East 2015 and then at The
PPAI Expo 2016, distributors
could be confident that every sin-
gle exhibitor on the show floor
possessed, at minimum, a basic
understanding of the company’s
compliance obligations after hav-
ing completed the PPAI Product
Safety Aware Program. This pro-
gram is an industry-wide initiative
for distributors and suppliers that
lays the essential foundation for
protecting and growing the indus-
try through improved responsible
sourcing activities. It is a great
place to start your product safety
education and it provides essential
continuing education for more
seasoned individuals.
No Excuses
I’m here to tell you that step-
ping up your familiarity with
product safety is not that diffi-
cult, and with a little knowledge
and awareness you can get an
edge over the competition and, at
the same time, get on the right
side of the law. The first step is
to make the decision to accept
the fact that product safety laws
and regulations are not going
away. If you want to continue to
be successful in this industry, at
some point you will need to give
in to this fact and deal with the
subject head on. It doesn’t matter
if you agree with the regulations,
with how they have been imple-
mented or whether you think
they are an impediment to your
business. The fact remains that
these regulations are the law and
you have a responsibility to your
clients and end-users to place
safe products on the market.
Over the years I have heard
dozens of reasons as to why
product safety (responsible
sourcing and compliance) is a
waste of time. Here are some of
the most memorable excuses:
• I’ve been in this industry for
25 years and have never heard
of CPSIA.
• My customers are not con-
cerned with it.
• My customers have not asked
about it.
• This will go away.
• I do not see it as a major issue.
• It’s more of a West Coast
thing.
• I do not have the time and
resources to manage it.
• I’ll address it when it really
becomes an issue with my
customers.
OVER THE YEARS the mantra has been consis-
tent and the message the same, regardless of how it
is actually phrased: How do I set myself apart from
the competition? What is the secret to growing my
sales? How do I become more valuable to my
clients? Everyone seems to be looking for a way to
separate themselves from everyone else, and the way
to distance yourself from the rest of the pack is to
differentiate
. Bring something to the table that oth-
ers do not. In the case of product safety, many are
not talking about it because of a lack of understand-
ing, unease with the subject, fear of scaring the cus-
tomer or just plain lack of acceptance that product
safety is an issue.
The Edge Of
Separation