PPB September 2016

companies involved had to refund the retail

price of all those hoverboards, the total cost

would be more than $100 million.

In this challenging regulatory

environment, it is prudent for all suppliers

and distributors to redouble their efforts

to educate their employees on safety

and compliance basics, and to verify that

their company has a sensible compliance

program in place for all of its supply chain

activities, whether you work for a direct

importer or are simply a sales rep selecting

products from your favorite supplier. If

you sell promotional products, the rules

apply to you no matter what your role is in

the stream of commerce.

Here is a glossary of definitions, tips,

guidelines and best practices to use in

your review and training. Treat it like a

checklist to evaluate your own practices

and to identify areas for improvement.

Product safety is a process, not a

destination. You and your team can use

this list to trigger conversations and make

sure that your processes are keeping up

with your fast-growing company.

Definitions

Product Safety vs. Regulatory Compliance—

both are equally important.

Regulatory

compliance

refers to meeting (and,

ideally, exceeding) standards required by

regulators—the rules, laws and standards

that apply to the products we manufacture,

decorate and sell. Standards can either

be mandatory, such as those referenced

in state and federal law, or they can be

voluntary standards developed by industry

consensus at organizations like UL and

ASTM International. Both types are

important and both are used by regulators

in their enforcement efforts. The Consumer

Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008

(CPSIA) is an example of a federal law that

contains many regulations. For example,

it mandates that children’s products be

tested annually at a recognized third-party

laboratory and that children’s toys must

comply with the ASTM F963 Toy Safety

Standard. The lawmakes it illegal to sell

children’s products and children’s toys that

do not meet these requirements.

Product safety goes beyond regulatory

compliance in dealing with whether a

product is safe to use, even if it meets

every applicable rule or it is one of the

many products for which there are

no mandatory or voluntary rules. The

hoverboard recall is an example of a

product for which no safety regulations

were violated but the product was

deemed by CPSC to be unsafe anyway.

The commission has statutory authority

to recall any product it deems unsafe, no

matter what. Period.

Mandatory vs. Voluntary Standards—

both are equally important.

Whenever a

standard or rule is incorporated into a

law, that standard is mandatory. The Toy

Safety Standard F963 is a good example.

Originally a voluntary standard, it became

mandatory after the Mattel Barbie Doll

recalls in the summer of 2007, when an

angry Congress chastised industry for not

policing itself. There are thousands more

voluntary standards than mandatory

standards as it benefits everyone—

consumers, business and government—

when business and industry polices itself.

At PPAI’s 2015 Product Responsibility

Summit, Marc Schoem, then CPSC’s

long-term deputy director of compliance

(now retired) stated unequivocally that the

agency considers voluntary standards to

be the minimum acceptable—the least a

company should comply with. So be sure

to always find out, usually by speaking

to an expert at a testing lab, if there are

voluntary standards applicable to the

product you are selecting and then verify

that the product complies.

Best Practice Tips

You are responsible!

No matter who

you buy from, no matter how long

you have done business with that

supplier or factory—no matter what, you

are ultimately responsible for the quality,

safety and compliance of every product

you sell. Your customers don’t know your

factory or supplier. They’re doing business

with you because they trust

you

Of course

you will entrust a great deal of faith in

your reliable, high-quality suppliers. But

remember, even the largest and most

trustworthy brands on the planet—Apple,

Sony, Disney, Fisher Price and Johnson

& Johnson to name a few—all have had

major product recalls and serious quality

gaffes, so you can be sure that even the

most reliable companies in our industry

have quality and compliance issues. Don’t

take anything for granted and don’t assume

anything. Suppliers have hundreds and, in

some cases, even thousands of products on

their websites. No one has the resources to

be an expert in everything.

Nurture a product safety culture

every aspect of your work so that

you automatically think of safety and

compliance with each project you work

on, with each product you select, with

each order you take, with each supplier or

factory you work with and with each client

presentation you make. Always assume

responsibility for the safety, compliance

and appropriateness of the product

you are selling. You are 100-percent

responsible for making the right product

decisions for your clients.

Learn the industry products that are

subject to compliance requirements.

Anything used by a child heads the

list since the major focus of the Consumer

Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA)

is children’s products and children’s toys.

Children’s apparel and sleepwear are both

regulated by CPSC as are art materials such

as highlighters. Food, and all products

that come into contact with food, are

regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration (FDA). In addition to mints,

chocolate and other common promotional

foods, this category includes all types of

promotional water bottles, tumblers, lip

balms, hand sanitizers, sunscreens, lotions

SEPTEMBER 2016

FEATURE

The Case For Revisiting Product Safety