News of Note top

1. President Obama Fills New CPSC Posts
2. Nord Urges Obama to Appoint Chairman
3. CPSC Mulls Definitions for Phthalates Rules
4. Importers/Manufacturer/Distributors/Retailers, and Others: New Section 15 Reporting Feature on CPSC Web Site
5. U.S. and Canada Jointly Handle Second Recall
6. One in Four Chinese Makers Un-findable in RAPEX Actions
7. 2009 Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) Innovation Awards Competition Now Open! DEADLINE JUNE 15, 2009

1. President Obama Fills New CPSC Posts

Announces expansion of CPSC leadership; Agency will receive 71 percent more funding than in FY2007

WASHINGTON – On May 5, 2009 President Obama announced his intent to nominate Inez Moore Tenenbaum as Chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Robert S. Adler as a new Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Furthermore, in the President’s budget, the CPSC receives $107 million, a 71 percent increase in resources since FY 2007. This is almost three quarters of the way to meeting the President's goal of doubling CPSC’s funding.

President Obama believes strongly in the mission of the Consumer Product Safety Commission: to protect the public, especially children, from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from consumer products, including children’s products such as toys and strollers. For over fifteen years, CPSC has operated with only three Commissioners. To revitalize the agency, President Obama is going to expand the Commission later this summer, to include five Commissioners at CPSC. If confirmed, Robert Adler would fill one of these new posts. The addition of extra Commissioners is tangible evidence of President Obama’s commitment to restoring the health of the agency, and will ensure opportunity for additional viewpoints to be expressed at the top of the agency.

President Obama said, "It is a top priority of my administration to ensure that the products the American people depend on are safe. We must do more to protect the American public – especially our nation’s children – from being harmed by unsafe products. I am confident that Inez and Bob have the commitment and expertise necessary to fill these roles and raise the standard of safety. To ensure these goals are met, I will also increase the number of Commissioners at the CPSC. I am confident this new leadership at the CPSC will revitalize the agency and achieve the high standard of product safety that the American people deserve."

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals today:

Inez Moore Tenenbaum, Nominee for Chair, Consumer Product Safety Commission     
                 
Inez Moore Tenenbaum was elected South Carolina's State Superintendent of Education in 1998 and completed her second term in 2007. Throughout her career, Tenenbaum has been an energetic and determined advocate for children and families and has extensive experience in administrative and regulatory matters. During her tenure as South Carolina's State Superintendent of Education, student achievement in South Carolina improved at the fastest rate in the nation, with scores increasing on every state, national, and international tests administered. At the end of Tenenbaum's tenure, the prestigious journal Education Week ranked South Carolina number one in the country for the quality of its academic standards, assessment, and accountability systems. Tenenbaum also ran as the Democratic candidate for retiring Democrat Fritz Hollings' seat in the U.S. Senate in 2004. She previously practiced health, environmental, and public interest law with the firm Sinkler & Boyd. Before attending law school, Tenenbaum served as the director of research for the Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee of the South Carolina House of Representatives. She carried out the Committee's responsibilities for all legislation relating to public health, the environment, child welfare, social services, adult and juvenile corrections, state military affairs, and local government. Tenenbaum has also served on numerous task forces that provide oversight on children and family services in the state. She received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Education degrees from the University of Georgia and her law degree from the University of South Carolina. Tenenbaum is the recipient of several honorary degrees and has been recognized by numerous state and community organizations for her civic work on behalf of children and families. She currently serves as special counsel to the McNair Law Firm in the area of public school finance. (THE WHITE HOUSE, Office of the Press Secretary, May 5, 2009)

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2. Nord Urges Obama to Appoint Chairman

CPSC Acting Chairman Nancy Nord April 1 urged President Barack Obama to nominate a commission chairman as a means to speeding CPSIA implementation. Nord wrote, “The addition of a third vote, hopefully, will streamline the process of lengthy staff discussions and negotiations currently required to reach the unanimity needed to advance the agency’s safety mission.” Currently, if either she or Commissioner Thomas Moore disagree with a proposal that requires a commission-level decision, it is unlikely to move forward because either’s negative vote blocks it. Moore a week earlier voiced a similar need in a letter to Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) in which he suggested that lack of a third member makes the commission less able to “give the staff direction and attend to various concerns that have gone unaddressed.” Obama’s eventual appointment will be a Democrat. Nord recently has been critical of some elements of the CPSIA—she told an ICPHSO audience that the law needs numerous fixes and she sent a lengthy letter to Dingell that included CPSC staff’s suggestions for fixes. She told Obama that his chairman will face numerous challenges related to the statute:

• “The lead and pthalates bans…will be especially challenging…The agency is being forced by this law to shift valuable safety resources away from hazards of concern and onto the regulation of products—such as blocks, bike tire valves, and ballpoint pen tips—that no one has ever suggested pose risks to children.” Citing similar concerns related to lead in ATVs and thrift store sales of children’s books and clothing, she asserted, “I do not believe that consumer safety is advanced by such results.”
• “The new chairman will also face the severe economic damage the retroactive nature of the law is already having…Small businesses, small retailers, crafters, and those who sell used products are being particularly hard hit…Congress and the courts have make it quite clear that the agency has no authority to change the reach of the law.”
• “The new chairman will be presented with a law that curtails the agency’s ability to prioritize its regulatory activity based on assessment of risks, the magnitude of those risks, and the actual consequences of those risks.”

The CPSC has been with only two commissioners since ex-Chairman Hal Stratton resigned in 2006. President George W. Bush made one aborted attempt to nominate a chairman in early 2007. The CPSC typically is not near the front of the nomination queue during the changes in presidential administration. If Obama were to nominate a chairman soon, it would be early based on recent history. (Product Safety Letter, April 6, 2009)

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3. CPSC Mulls Definitions for Phthalates Rules

Definitions will play a critical role in CPSC’s regulation of phthalates, and they might not be what industry is expecting. That became clear at CPSC’s March 12 public meeting on phthalates. For example, explained Celestine Kiss of the agency human factors division, CPSCers originally regarded a list of items excluded from the definition of toy in ASTM’s F963 toy standard to be what it might exclude. However, given that the common definition of play can include activities using the excluded items, staffers are not sure. This area becomes even cloudier when considering different versions of products—for example, compare a regulation play baseball and bat to plastic versions or regulation footballs to foam versions. Meanwhile, staffers are looking at other product areas that they say may or may not need to be excluded from toys, including novelty books that have interactive elements, such as buttons or speak, bath toys, pool toys, wading pools, dolls, action figures, costumes, masks, and balloons.

Meanwhile, for childcare products, they are looking at items that might not directly contact children but nonetheless are used to facilitate feeding, sleeping and similar activity—the standard CPSC currently is likely to apply when defining the product category. Using that standard also raises the question of secondary uses of products. For example, a stroller is not primarily intended to facilitate sleeping, but most have reclined positions. Does that make a stroller an item that facilitates sleep? Does a company’s taking care not to advertise strollers related to sleeping mean they are not so intended?

Rick Locker, of Locker Greenberg and representing the Toy Industry Association and the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, suggested that CPSC should have a more precise definition of facilitate, saying it should mean more than to make easier and should be more akin to used to result directly in activities like sleeping or eating. He also urged CPSC to treat items differently depending on if they are intended to go into mouths, such as pacifiers. Carol Pollack-Nelson, a product safety consultant, rejected the latter point, noting that small children mouth items no matter intended use. (Product Safety Letter, March 16, 2009)

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4. Importers/Manufacturer/Distributors/Retailers, and Others: New Section 15 Reporting Feature on CPSC Web Site

Please be aware of a New Section 15 Reporting Feature now on the CPSC Web site. CPSC’s goal is to improve the efficiency and timeliness with which we process reports and begin working with you to determine whether action is needed to protect the safety of consumers. The quicker manufacturers, retailers and importers report to CPSC, the greater the chance we can prevent incidents or injuries. You now can get an acknowledgement and copy of a Section 15 report you file with CPSC’s Office of Compliance through our Web-based portal. This feature gives you an exact copy of the report as filed and an official record that it has been received by CPSC staff. CPSC staff strongly encourages firms that need to file Section 15 reports to do so using the Web portal rather than by telephone, whenever possible. You can make a Web-based Section 15 report at virtually any time of day or night and on the weekends (except during occasional periods of system maintenance). The Web-based approach also gets your report to the right people in the Office of Compliance more quickly than a telephone report, which CPSC staff must enter by hand.

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5. U.S. and Canada Jointly Handle Second Recall

CPSC and Health Canada March 11 jointly handled a recall for the second time. This corrective action involved 184,000 infant toys distributed by Infantino that have blue metallic fabric that can detach. There are 45 reports of this occurring, but no injuries. The toys—172,000 in the U.S. and 12,000 in Canada—sold from June 2007 to February 2009 for $10 to $20. Consumers get free replacements.

Last month the regulatory agencies worked together on Old Navy’s recall of 40,900 stuffed animal toys due to detaching eyes. CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson said then that similar actions would follow. It is common for companies to recall products on both markets with the agencies handling the actions separately—see, for example,  the Maytag refrigerator recalls recently. (Product Safety Letter, March 16, 2009)

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6. One in Four Chinese Makers Un-findable in RAPEX Actions

Identifying Chinese manufacturers remains the biggest challenge in post-RAPEX actions involving products made in that nation, according to EU analysis made available March 16. Data from the EU’s China-RAPEX Application show that in the last three quarters reviewed (March-November 2008), Chinese officials could not find an average of 23% of the companies. The project involves DG-Sanco officials forwarding RAPEX reports to their AQSIQ counterparts, who take various actions.

Overall—from September 2006 to November 2008—the EU tagged 3,338 notices for the program. Of those, AQSIQ investigated 669. In 352 investigations (53%), the Chinese adopted measures: 176 exports stops by AQSIQ or the company (26%), 99 cases of No measures occurred in 317 cases (47%), including 169 cases where the makers were unknown (25%), 28 with differing risk assessments (4%), and 120 “other” actions (18%).

The EU updates the RAPEX-China data quarterly and the program began in 2006. This update is the eighth quarter reviewed. Download the EU’s report from here. (Product Safety Letter, March 23, 2009)

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7. 2009 Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (Jpma) Innovation Awards Competition Now Open! DEADLINE JUNE 15, 2009

Is your product Innovative? Marketable? Trend Setting? Appealing? Useful?  If so, it could be chosen as one of the 10 most innovative juvenile products on the market today!
Internationally recognized, the JPMA Innovation Awards highlight some of the most exciting new products in the juvenile marketplace today. Each year, more than 100 companies enter their most cutting-edge products for this renowned competition, but only 10 are selected. Entries are evaluated by a selection committee of trade media representatives and industry retail buyers, and judged on their innovation, marketability, trend-setting potential, appeal, and usefulness.
JPMA is proud to host the 2009 product competition during the ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas. Only companies exhibiting at the 2009 ABC Kids Expo are eligible to participate in the competition.

The entry deadline for the 2009 JPMA Innovation Awards Competition is Monday, June 15, 2009. 

Register Now!  For complete rules and regulations, click here.  

Take advantage of this valuable opportunity and submit your product today! 

Questions? Contact:
Yarissa Reyes
Communications Manager
Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA)
(856) 642-4420

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Special Articles top

1. Quality Management in a Global Recession
2. Using Education to Help Children Make Safety Smart® Choices for a Lifetime
3. Business Leaders and Quality Management
4. Understanding The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act Of 2008
5. The Principal Deliverables of the EMARS Project

1. Quality Management in a Global Recession

The New Reality

The global recession is intensifying and companies worldwide are reorganizing for survival.  Although manufacturing and international trade flows are down significantly, a substantial amount of manufacturing activity still exists that is ongoing.  And, a significant effect of the recession is to both alter and amplify the quality risks for those products that continue in production.

One might think that the slowdown would allow manufacturers and their suppliers to devote more attention to product quality, thereby improving results, but just the opposite is true.

Companies are reducing their workforces to cut costs, leaving a smaller and overburdened group of employees to manage operations.  They’re also reducing capital expenditures and keeping older machinery in place longer, while employing fewer people to maintain the machines as the maintenance requirements rise due to equipment age.  Inventories are being reduced and the costs and delays related to rejects are pressuring companies and their personnel to push through products and components that would have been reworked or scrapped just a short time ago.

Along with these physical asset risks, the human resource risks are increasing as factories are staffed by the “survivors” of layoffs who are generally feeling insecure in their own positions.  They’re both distracted and de-motivated by the global situation, as well as at their companies as they watch and read the daily doom-and-gloom in the media.

Add to this the fact that many factories and material suppliers in the supply chains feeding inputs to the final product factories are experiencing the very same effects. We’re left with a situation that can, and most likely will continue to, lead to increased quality risks and costs at precisely the time when they’re least manageable.  Worse than the cost implications, of course, are those potential defects that can lead to consumer injury or even death.

Current Actions in Quality Management

As companies reduce their internal workforces, including quality management personnel, they’re reducing external workforces such as source inspectors and in some cases curtailing the use of third-party quality (3PQ) firms who are managing their interests in quality and conformance across their supply chains.  The objective, of course, is to reduce costs.  But, costs aren’t reduced when defects occur, components and assemblies don’t fit or operate correctly, and replacement shipment delays stall the entire production and delivery operation. 

Other companies are leaving their current quality management staff and protocols in place, but this also increases quality risks since the situation has changed and the quality systems need to be adapted to the new and potential risks.

Strategic Options

A new workforce balance needs to be established.  Workforce reductions are certainly in order when demand and revenues fall, however, the allocation of workforce capabilities across the production, operations management, and quality management areas needs to be reviewed and aligned with the new reality—not just scaled down equally.  This can only be completed after the current and emerging risks are fully understood.

A company’s suppliers, along with their suppliers, need to be examined and analyzed in order to identify the changing distribution of defect opportunities throughout the supply chain.  While this is being done, it’s very likely that new options in supply chain architecture will also be revealed, which will present new opportunities to not only mitigate risk during the recession but also to strengthen the long-term efficiency of the company.  Notably, the nascent movement toward supply chain regionalization that began a few years ago may well intensify during the recession, and in any case it should continue developing since both the impulse and rationale for this had developed before the downturn.

One other area of consideration is the concept of reintegrating the manufacturing company.  For decades now, manufacturers across the globe have been de-integrating their operations into isolated internal departments and outsourced specialties—components of the business that all work to their independent metrics, thereby creating the silo effect which has increased the costs of both production and quality.  We’ll devote an entire future article to this concept, however, for the purposes of this article, the benefits of reintegration of the business process components needed to efficiently manufacture is directly related to the effective identification and control of potential defect and product failure opportunities, both internally and across the supply chain.

Tactical Options

Fortunately, there’s no need for the development of new or exotic methods or tools to achieve a thorough and well qualified evaluation and definition of the new and emerging threats to quality and conformance.

Supplier questionnaires should be developed as the first step of an overview analysis of the current conditions.  Supplier audits as the second step both verify the information supplied in the questionnaires, as well as reveal unanticipated issues.  Process audits can then drive the information down to the functional level, as well as identify the known and new defect opportunity points in all processes.  And, finally, a process flow analysis will provide the information needed to reconfigure the workforce quality management staffing allocations, as well as revise the quality and control plans.

A New Beginning

As with any crisis, the current global recession is accompanied by both considerable disruptions as well as substantial opportunities.  Setting aside all presumptions based on past conditions, manufacturing companies who embark on a path of discovery will meet the immediate objectives of survival with risk and cost reduction, while very likely revealing opportunities to emerge from the current downturn stronger and more profitable than ever before.

Michael L. Hetzel is Vice President/Americas with Pro QC International (www.proqc.com), a Taipei-based third-party quality control (3PQ) and engineering services firm in business since 1984.  Pro QC has three offices in China (Shenzhen, Ningbo & Shanghai) along with engineers based in most major industrial cities, and offers services in over 30 countries.  Michael is based at Pro QC’s Chicago area USA headquarters and has been engaged in Asian sourcing since 1993.  He publishes articles and speaks worldwide on the subjects of global manufacturing trade flows, supply chain optimization, and supply chain quality management.  He can be reached at +1-708-710-5935 or at mlhetzel@proqc.com. © 2009 ML Hetzel

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2. Using Education to Help Children Make Safety Smart® Choices for a Lifetime

In the United States alone, children sustain an estimated 14 million unintentional injuries each year.  Many of these injuries are disabling and life-threatening.  Standards, certification, and regulations can help prevent unsafe products from reaching the marketplace, but are insufficient in addressing all aspects of consumer behavior.  Focusing on preparedness and prevention through education can help bridge the gap. 

Consumers and regulatory authorities value UL as a leader of safety issues.  With public safety at the heart of UL’s mission, UL and various units of The Walt Disney Company have partnered on a groundbreaking in-school safety program called Safety Smart®—empowering students to be responsible and make “safety smart” decisions.

Founded in 1894, Underwriters Laboratories® is the world’s leading product safety testing and certification organization.  UL is synonymous with safety, and the UL Mark is the most recognized and trusted symbol of safety in the world.

At the same time, education has always been an integral part of the family entertainment mission of the Walt Disney Company. Since 1945, when Walt Disney began renting copies of feature films to schools across the country, educators have turned to Disney Educational Productions for curriculum materials that enhance classroom lessons and unlock student creativity.

Safety Smart Classroom Edition DVDs have been developed to support youth safety education in the classroom and “edu-tain” children.  These DVDs have been designed to meet academic standards addressed in Arts Education, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and Health and feature characters Timon and Pumbaa from The Lion King and “Bill Nye the Science Guy.®” 

Wild About Safety: Timon and Pumbaa Safety Smart
Wild About Safety Classroom Edition DVDs are designed for children ages 4 - 8.  Subject areas covered are Safety and Guidance.  Each DVD features an Educator’s Guide outlining the learning objectives; classroom and take-home activities and exercises; reproducible handouts; Web links to additional resources; bonus featurettes; and a Safety Smart Sing Along.  To make a global impact on children’s safety, particularly in nations where there is a limited understanding and awareness for safety, Wild About Safety DVDs have been translated into 15 languages. 

Each of these DVDs teaches its own unique safety lesson:

Wild About Safety: Timon and Pumbaa Safety Smart At Home!
Timon thinks he and Pumbaa should move to a bigger house, but Pumbaa is not so sure. The two friends—armed with their UL Safety Smart Checklist—look through the house and discover some serious safety problems.  Children realize, along with these lovable characters, the importance of safety and learn a variety of ways they can help themselves and others avoid injuries.

Wild About Safety: Timon and Pumbaa Safety Smart Goes Green!
Pumbaa teaches Timon going green isn’t about color but what each of us can do to help our environment—our air, our water and our world.  In visiting their favorite jungle spot they soon learn to do their part to preserve its natural beauty by practicing the many “R” words—reduce, reuse, recycle, refill, renew, replace, refresh, replenish—just to name few.  “Going Green” is a way of living, choosing a healthier, more natural and environmentally friendly lifestyle.

Wild About Safety: Timon and Pumbaa Safety Smart In The Water!
Timon and Pumbaa are found venturing excitedly through the African jungle in search of their favorite watering hole complete with chutes, slides, pools, boats, and lifeguards.  But before getting wet, Pumbaa assures Timon: Read all signs; Think, don’t sink; Look before you leap; Reach, throw, row but don’t go; and Always swim with a buddy. 

Coming soon is the feature Wild About Safety: Timon and Pumbaa Safety Smart About Fire!

Safety Smart® Science with Bill Nye the Science Guy®
Safety Smart Science Classroom Edition DVDs are designed for children ages 9 - 13.  Subject areas covered are Safety, Science and Guidance.  Each DVD features an 18-page Educator’s Guide outlining the learning objectives; classroom and take-home activities and exercises; reproducible handouts; an interactive Safety Smart Quiz, Web links to additional resources; and bonus featurettes.  Safety Smart Science DVDs are available in English and Spanish.

Each of these DVDs teaches its own unique safety lesson:

Safety Smart® Science with Bill Nye the Science Guy®: Electricity
Go on location with Bill Nye at UL as he delves into safety, electricity, and the science behind safety. Bill Nye explains the power—and danger—of electricity in a very entertaining way.  What is electricity?  How does it move through a cord?  Why don’t orange juice and electrical “juice” mix? Children are challenged on concepts underlying safety issues, learn to manage their own physical environment, and assume responsibility for practicing behaviors that reduce injuries.

Safety Smart® Science with Bill Nye the Science Guy®: Fire
Bill Nye the Science Guy ignites learning as he shows students how to be Safety Smart around fire.  By explaining the science of fire, including the roles heat, fuel and oxygen play, Bill demonstrates how knowledge and awareness provide the opportunities to learn and practice safe behaviors.

To learn more and order these “edu-taining” Safety Smart Classroom Edition DVDs, visit here.

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3. Business Leaders and Quality Management

The business risks, as they pertain to quality and safety, of purchasing and selling products and services have increased substantially in the past few years. Increasingly, consumers are becoming better informed and are quickly discovering their collective power to protect their interests. Recalls and consumers’ concerns about safety and quality have become front-page news worldwide. Governments, NGOs and Standards Organizations are writing ever tougher laws and standards to protect consumers. The status quo of how consumer interests are protected is definitely put into question, and the real need for an innovative approach and a new paradigm for the leadership of Quality Management (QM) is needed.

QM is an integrated (see list below) series of strategies, processes and relationships that ensure companies produce and sell services and/or products that meet quality and safety standards and laws as well as the expectations of the consumer.

• Concept, design and engineering (including packaging)
• Specifications and Standards
• Supplier capability and product complexity assessment
• Raw materials and production quality control and testing
• Purchasing strategy and quality
• Communication quality with all stakeholders
• Supply chain strategy and quality
• Advertising and marketing strategy and quality
• Legal strategy
• Liability insurance
• Recall, reverse flow, and environmentally friendly disposal quality
• After-sales service

QM touches every aspect of business. It is not a technical or a specialty concern, it is a business concern.

Often the responsibility for QM is delegated to middle management, specialists and, in some cases to external service providers without adequate oversight. It is my firm belief that business leaders, and specifically those in executive positions, are the only ones that can effectively lead their companies and organizations to a successful QM program, ensuring that their customers get the quality and safety in products and services that they expect and deserve. If the consumer doubts they are receiving the right level of safety and quality in a service or product, then the very reputation and health of the company that sells those services or products is put into question. This is a job for leaders.

Historically “Company Quality” began in the 1980s with focus on management and people. The emphasis was placed on three aspects:

• Elements such as controls, job management, adequate processes, performance, integrity, and identification of records
• Competence such as knowledge, skills, experience, and qualifications
• Soft elements such as personal integrity, confidence, organizational culture, motivation, team spirit, and relationships

In 1987, the U.S. Congress established the Baldrige National Quality Award (BNQA), which was named after the 26th Secretary of Congress, Malcolm Baldrige. The BNQA measures seven areas:

• Leadership
• Strategic planning
• Customer and market focus
• Measurement, analysis and knowledge management
• Workforce focus
• Process management
• Results

Many fine companies have “won” this award, and details can be found on the Web site.

The winners come from a wide range of industries such as:

• Design work
• Administrative services
• Consulting
• Banking
• Insurance
• Computer software
• Retailing
• Transportation

It is quite revealing that the number one area measured by the BNQA is leadership.

How is industry doing on the product recall front, and how is consumer confidence in product quality and safety doing?

The United States Consumer Product Safety Council (CPSC) Web site is an excellent source of information on product safety. Suffice it to say that in a four-part series (first part published May 30, 2008 and accessible by clicking here, it refers to 2007 as “the year of the recall,” with recalls topping 25 million toys alone. Did 2008 shape up better? Not really, and there is a lot of concern expressed by consumer advocacy groups on the prospects for 2009.

The CPSC Web site also contains important information for all companies doing or planning to do business in the USA on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) that was signed into law by President Bush August 14, 2008. I strongly recommend companies be aware of the Act and obtain education about how it affects your company.

In Canada, the Minister of Health introduced a Bill designated C-6 and also known as the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA) for firstt reading on January 29th, 2009. Consumer product means a product, including its components, parts or accessories that may reasonably be expected to be obtained by an individual to be used for non-commercial purposes, including for domestic, recreational and sports purposes, and it includes its packaging. To get a full overview of C-6 and its progress in the Canadian Parliament, click here.

The Web sites of Health Canada, and Canadian Standards Association, are also very useful and informative.

The USA, European Union, Canada and China, along with many other countries, are working together to harmonize safety standards and laws. Consumers worldwide expect nothing less.

China plays a vital part in the world of safety laws and standards. China’s President Hu Jintao recently was quoted as saying that China takes product safety seriously and will improve inspection measures. This can only help; however, there are critics who say present procedures are adequate; but they are not being implemented effectively. Could this be due to a question of business priorities? There is also a trend to “trusting” suppliers due to a growing interdependence. Perhaps our society of “trust” needs to have a healthy injection of “suspicion” and regulatory scrutiny...”trust but verify.”

We all understand that companies have to make money. We’ve certainly had that point hit home in the current global financial crisis. Being responsible for the financial health of a company is job number one. However, there’s the matter about the cost of quality that most leaders may not be sufficiently aware of. Smart QM can be a stimulus, too.

Sample case study: Company ABC has revenue of USD $100 Million and a net profit of USD $5 Million. If we assume a compounded sales growth rate of 10%, it will take between 8 and 9 years to double the revenue and net profit and reach USD $200 Million and USD $10 Million respectively.

Beyond organic growth and acquisitions, there is another opportunity and that is to make QM more effective.

So how much money is presently spent on quality and safety?

It varies widely; however for many retailers, the total cost is approximately 10% of the top line!  Before you reject that figure out of hand, consider that total costs of quality include all the reactive costs that occur in the integrated business areas as where listed under the definition of QM as well as the proactive costs. Up to 99% of the total cost of quality is reactive, and the proactive part is as low as 1%. With the proper leadership, the overwhelming reactive figure can be drastically reduced, and every reduction in that total cost figure goes straight to your company’s bottom line. I estimate that for every 1% increase in proactive QM investment there could be a corresponding 10% reduction in the reactive costs. Using our example, if Company ABC increased its proactive QM from 1 to 2%, they could reduce their reactive QM costs by USD $1 Million and as a result increase their profit to USD $6 Million. Everything being equal, this would have taken 2 to 3 years of 10% sales growth to accomplish the same result.

If the reduction of quality costs can considered as a business opportunity, then business and management schools need to consider offering QM in their MBA, Executive MBA, and other continuing education programs for executives. For example, I have determined that a series of 4 modules taking only a total time of 8 hours for time starved executives would sufficiently cover: (a) the importance of an effective QM program; (b) legal and financial risks; (c) effective organizational structure; and (d) the importance of safety laws and standards. Education in the importance of QM will help business leaders make well-informed decisions on the direction their company needs to take to mitigate risks to their consumers’ health and safety.

Reactive quality costs are typically spent in meetings, paying legal costs, advising consumers about the problem, figuring out how to minimize the problem, reverse flow, and how to get rid of the products in an environmentally friendly way, etc, etc. As recalls happen all too frequently, companies tend to get quite good at reactive QM. They become experts in crisis management. Is this the best way to maximize sales, profits, and return on investment to shareholders? Is it sustainable? The experts in those recall meetings could be using their time exactly as the business leaders do, devoting it to opportunities that are proactive.

Consumers want to believe in the quality and safety of the services and goods they purchase and use. Leadership can provide that focus. Once it is there, nothing will be able to stop or even slow down the growth of consumer confidence, and all the good things that go along with it.

Leadership has many definitions; however, there is one that is attributed to Alan Keith of Genentech (as referenced in Wikipedia), that I would like to share with you: “Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen.”

Business leaders devote the greatest amount of their time and expertise to opportunities that offer the greatest return on investment. QM offers a considerable return on investment. With the right discipline within an organization and the right disciplined leadership, consumer confidence will increase and bring with it increased sales and profits. It’s time to implement a smart proactive QM program.

Is not leading quality and safety a noble use of a leader’s time? Time to appoint a Chief Quality Officer?

Robert F. Duncombe is an independent consultant for quality management, reputation risk management, public relations management, and consumer rights management.  He is an active member of the Canadian Advisory Committee (CAC) for the Standards Council of Canada (SCC); the Canadian Standards Association (CSA); the Swiss Association for Standardization (SNV) and the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO). He contributes to safety standards through ISO/COPOLCO (Consumer Policy Committee). His experience includes the management of quality, safety and environment for the trading division of IKEA in Europe and Asia-Pacific, and for Canadian Tire in Canada. He may be reached at rodu08@gmail.com.

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4. Understanding The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act Of 2008

On August 14, 2008, Congress enacted the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), which mandates a comprehensive overhaul of consumer product safety laws. While the full impact of the CPSIA continues to evolve, the effects of the law will be felt by manufacturers, importers, warehousers, retailers, consumers, lenders, and all facets of the consumer products industry, particularly the juvenile products industry.

CPSIA is both historic and far-reaching. New certification requirements, phthalate and lead limits, mandatory third-party testing requirements, newly prohibited acts, and many other provisions of the law all provoke significant questions and present potential pitfalls to manufacturers, importers, private labelers, distributors, and retailers of consumer products. An eight-fold increase in maximum civil fines coupled with CPSC and U.S. Customs’ authority to seize and destroy imports not in compliance with this new law raises the stakes considerably for companies. The new law also empowers all 50 State Attorneys General to seek enforcement of many federal product safety laws and standards.

All participants in the consumer products industry now face increased risk and scrutiny which will likely result in more frequent consumer product recalls and enforcement actions. The CPSIA directs the CPSC to move quickly to promulgate new safety regulations to implement the Act. Manufacturers, both large and small, have protested the extremely short timelines, the failure to take into account manufacturing processes, and the failure to take into account the breadth of the impact.

Backlash to Unintended Consequences and Confusion Persists on CPSIA Implementation       

Since the legislative language restricted the CPSC from acting with traditional regulatory discretion and the new rules apply retroactively, children’s products, including books and clothing already on the shelf, are subject to the legal restrictions. Many small businesses have complained about chaotic implementation and unjustifiable removal of safe, but untested product from retail.

Also ensnared are thrift stores and companies that make products like bikes or children’s books. Many were caught by surprise when it became clear the law would apply to them. The only lead that can be found on children’s bikes is where it poses no risk to a child not in the daily habit of licking the wheels. And while children’s books may contain no more noxious materials than paper and ink, under the new rules they would still be subject to the law.

Responding to the uproar, CPSC issued a stay of testing and certification requirements for one year until February 10, 2010 for the new lead content, toy standards and phthalate restrictions and rule-making notices that would exempt certain textile, natural and other materials from having to be certified as lead-free. Also, the CPSC, aware of erroneous testing, has published phthalate test protocols intended to make it clear that the whole product is considered when testing and published rulemaking notices seeking to better define which products will be regulated and which are not. In the interim, CPSC announced an enforcement policy focused only on products intended to be mouthed, such as bath books, rattles, teethers, and pacifiers.

Provisions of the CPSIA

The law is effective upon enactment, but prospective according to various dates when provisions (i.e., lead, phthalates, testing and certification, tracking information, advertising restrictions) go into effect. The law also contains strong preemption language establishing uniform national standards for lead and phthalates in products. Here is a summary of some provisions the new CPSC regulations are required to implement:

Toy and Juvenile Product Testing: Requires mandatory third-party safety certification of products made for children 12 and under. Upon CPSC accreditation, private labs could be allowed to test products if they provide equal or greater consumer protection than available third party labs. Authorizes CPSC personnel to inspect any lab certified under the Consumer Product Safety Act and withdraw accreditation if necessary. The JPMA Certification Program is subject to update and is expected to provide a turnkey solution to these new testing and certification requirements.

Certain Durable Infant Products: Specifically identifies certain products that will need to contain product registration cards, which are: full-size cribs and non-full-size cribs; toddler beds; high chairs, booster chairs, and hook-on chairs; bath seats; gates and other enclosures for confining a child; play yards; stationary activity centers; infant carriers; strollers; walkers; swings; and bassinets and cradles.

Phthalates: Permanently bans the sale, only of toys and certain under 3 childcare articles containing trace concentrations of three phthalates: DEHP, DBP, or BBP. Temporarily bans products containing trace concentrations of DINP, DIDP, or DnOP unless further study and evaluation prompts the CPSC to lift the ban.

Whistleblower Protections: Provides whistleblower protections for private-sector employees reporting safety issues to the CPSC.

Funding: Authorizes funding levels for the CPSC for five years beginning in 2010, increasing their budget from $80 to $136 million by 2014. As part of the authorization, Conferees directed $25 million toward establishing a public database (see below for additional info).

Quorum: Allows a two-member quorum at the CPSC to conduct official business for the one-year period beginning on the date of enactment. The CPSC currently is without a quorum and cannot conduct business that requires Commission action such as a mandatory recall. Restores the Commission to five members instead of three members.

Rulemaking Process: Streamlines the product safety rulemaking process to be timelier by eliminating a mandatory “Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” step; it remains an option for CPSC.

Lead in Substrates: Bans lead for products manufactured for children age 12 or younger. Specifically, the permissible level of lead in children’s products would be 600 ppm after 180 days, 300 ppm after one year, and 100 ppm after three years following enactment, if feasible. The CPSC is directed to periodically review and lower the limit and also to except inaccessible parts, electronic components, and parts that do not pose a human health risk.

Database: Within two years, the CPSC will establish a searchable database to include any reports of injuries, illness, death, or risk related to consumer products submitted by consumers, local, state, or national government agencies, child care providers, physicians, hospitals, coroners, first responders, and the media. Upon receiving a complaint, the CPSC has five days to submit the complaint to the manufacturer. The manufacturer then has 10 days to respond. The complaint and manufacturers response would then also be posted on the database. The CPSC would have the authority to remove or correct a complaint if it is found to be inaccurate.

Civil Fines: Increases the civil fine penalty cap from $5,000 to $100,000 per individual violation, and from $1.85 million to $15 million for aggregate violations.

Criminal Penalties: Increases criminal penalties to five years in jail for those who knowingly and willingly violate product safety laws.

Attorneys General: Provides authority for state attorneys general to enforce, but not interpret, consumer product safety laws and act expeditiously to remove dangerous products from shelves.

Labeling: Requires manufacturers to label children’s products with tracking information, using their own product-appropriate systems that enable them to better identify recalled products.

Recalled Products: Makes it unlawful for retailers to sell a recalled product.

Supply Chain: Requires companies to identify manufacturers and subcontractors in the supply chain to CPSC.

Export of Recalled Products: Enables the CPSC to prohibit a U.S. entity from exporting a product that does not comply with consumer product safety rules unless the importing country has notified the Commission of its permission.

Import Safety: Requires the CPSC to develop a plan to identify shipments of consumer products intended for import into the U.S. Improves information sharing among federal agencies, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Destruction of Noncompliant Imports: Provides greater CPSC oversight to prevent the entry of unsafe consumer products in the U.S.

Conclusion
           
The new consumer product safety laws and regulations will dramatically change the way companies do business. There is sure to be greater enforcement action and significant penalties for companies who do not follow the new safety requirements. These requirements will have to be internalized at all levels of the company and to its overseas manufacturers, factories, raw material suppliers, vendors, importers, and customer base. Companies must rapidly evaluate their entire product lines and incorporate immediate actions to respond to the CPSIA’s legal requirements.
           
JPMA will continue to strive to insure an orderly imposition of common sense rules. In addition, JPMA has and will be commenting on dozens of rulemakings and guidance policies to be put forth in 2009 to implement the Act.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

For more information about CPSIA, click here.  

Yarissa Reyes is Communications Manager of the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (www.jpma.org).

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5. The Principal Deliverables of the EMARS Project

Knowledge Base
The Objective of the project was to establish a common body of knowledge on market surveillance and to make this information and expertise available to the Member States and the Commission for both strategic and tactical goals. There are nearly 400 documents in the Knowledge Base. Over half of the documents are in English and around half have been actively reviewed. Documents from the Knowledge Base have already been used in some of the Joint Actions, for example, forming the basis of the inspection manual for the Playground Equipment project. Information from other work packages has also been captured in the Knowledge Base. This includes compilations of questions and answers from the Rapid Advice Forum, papers presented at PROSAFE meetings, and summary reports of cases assessed by the WP4 team (model risk assessments).

A new process for peer review has been implemented. This is based around an online survey that guides the reviewer through the review process simplifying data entry with there being no need to login to the knowledge base. The document itself can be attached to the e-mail containing the link to the online survey. The first of what will be annual calls of new documents was sent out towards the end of the year. Lastly, it can be expected that the Knowledge Base will be incorporated into any desk companion that is developed under EMARS II.

Rapid Advice System
The Rapid Advice Forum has been operational since the spring of 2007. Informal advice is being provided to member states and the Commission on a range of market surveillance related issues including procedures, risk assessment, applicable legislation and interpretation, and practical experience. The advice is given on an individual basis by market surveillance officers and does not represent a national position. The recipient of the advice is in no way bound to follow it. Nevertheless, the exchange of experience helps promote a harmonised approach across different member states to the same issues. A project-specific RAF has been established within the framework of the lighters project. The results of the Lighter RAF have led to the drafting of guidance material on novelty lighters. The Lighter RAF has served as a model that could be applied to other projects or specific sectors. A number of ADCOs have shown interest in applying the RAF principle in their domains. There has been good adoption of the RAF principle by the member states with some nineteen different countries posing questions and 20 responding to queries. An evaluation of the burden of the RAF and of the procedures has been made and has led to a streamlining of the procedures. In particular, greater use is being made of a more informal e-mail-based system. PROSAFE can continue to provide added value by maintaining e-mail lists for specific issues and projects and by compiling the responses and capturing the information in the Knowledge Base.

Best Practice Techniques in Market Surveillance
This Book is based on experience, knowledge, best practices and procedures related to market surveillance within member states authorities gathered and processed through 2006-2008. The purpose of The Book is to contribute to a higher level of competence, harmonized understanding and performance of market surveillance as a tool to improve the safety of consumers in Europe.

Target audiences are mainly market surveillance authorities and their officers at all levels in the organisation. The Book is also available for stakeholders like economic operators, business organisations, consumer organisations, and other interested parties. The best practices contained in the Book have already been field tested in a number of joint actions including the Lighters and the Playgrounds projects. The experience gained has been particularly useful in chapter five dealing with joint actions.

Risk Assessment
The risk assessment group has worked closely with the Commission’s IRAG group developing improved risk assessment guidelines. The EMARS group has been able to complement the work of the Commission group and has made a significant contribution to the new method. The risk assessment work package has produced a number of deliverables. These include Case reports, general recommendations based on the cases, a document on experiences with the new method developed within IRAG, and of course the Chapter in Best Practice book.

The case reports have been uploaded to the knowledge database. A number of conclusions can be drawn from the case studies. Detailed scenarios make assessments more transparent. RAPEX notifications often lack details on incident and injury. Severity depends on type of injury and part of the body, e.g. what body part is burned, to what degree? Probability is influenced by many factors, e.g. product failure modes, consumer behaviour, environmental factors and vulnerability. Data from previous case can be re-used.

A number of difficulties and challenges have also been detected. What are most relevant scenarios, when to stop? Focus on minimum number of steps, ‘critical path to injury.’ Injury data, even if available, are difficult to apply to specific product. Probabilities often need to be estimated. Uncertainty becomes transparent. Calculated probability near border of two classes e.g. 1/150 is in class “> 1/1,000” but close to “>1/100”. How to deal with: Low probability or risk ó high number of products? Very severe injury, very low probability? (Electrical products).

Looking to the future, the group sees the need to address using injury databases as basis for scenarios; finding factors in probability/exposure assessment; building a database of factors; using the ChemRisks Toolbox as model for exposure data?

Training Strategy
Another deliverable of the EMARS project has been a training strategy for market surveillance inspectors. The Training Strategy is based on a 6-pillar approach:
1. National training in Member States
2. Web-based learning
3. Workshops on an EC basis
4. Exchange of officers (cross border)
5. Joint projects (cross border)
6. Train the trainers

EMARS Strategy
One of the most important deliverables of the project has been the strategy for the further enhancement of market surveillance in Europe. The strategy has been subjected to a major consultative process including a stakeholder workshop in Paris last July. The strategy lays down a number of principles of market surveillance. For the authorities these include preventative approach to consumers and businesses; target deliberately on unsafe products; swiftly and proportionate; efficient partnership and co-ordination; and training and participation in standard making.

The objectives of the strategy are a systematic approach to joint actions; a consistent approach to market surveillance; improving collaboration with customs; ensuring adequate liaison MSAs and standards; improving operational-level collaboration with MSAs outside Europe and transparency working MSAs; and helping economic operators.

The Key Elements of the strategy are the exchange of information and coordination between national authorities; cooperation with customs, and international collaboration.

The challenges facing us in the short to medium term include overseas manufacturing; small operators; complexity of regulation and standards; effectiveness of corrective actions; and adequate resources for surveillance.

In conclusion, the strategy states that the existence of a central resource at the European level is essential to the continued improvement of market surveillance in Europe. At the national level there needs to be constant attention given to market surveillance and adequate resources need to be made available. We also need to ensure a core competency at the European level through the provision of sustainable funding.

Dissemination of the Results of the Project
A communications strategy has guided the outreach activities throughout the project. Excellent relationships have been developed with the ADCOs and other regulatory committees and with the broader stakeholder community who have participated actively in a number of public events and been consulted on some of the major deliverables of the project. On the communications side a Web site has been developed at www.emars.eu and seven editions of the newsletter have been published. Over 3,000 copies of the newsletter have been downloaded with over 700 copies of the last newsletter alone having been downloaded.  The most recent annual report of the project has just been published and can be downloaded from the Web site. With the project having now been formally completed, we recently drafted a final implementation report for the European Commission at the end of March. 

Impact of the Project on Other Market Surveillance Activities
The project continues to have a considerable impact on the climate for cooperation amongst the national authorities. Following the award of a further four joint actions to PROSAFE within the framework of the latest call for proposals for joint actions, PROSAFE is now managing 6 joint actions involving some 26 countries participate. New proposals are envisaged for 2009 and a discussion is going on concerning support to Hungary in its project on Lighting Chains. PROSAFE will again try to coordinate the exchange of market surveillance officials during 2009.

EMARS II
A proposal was made in response to the Commission’s 2008 call for tender for a new project EMARS II. The Commission accepted the proposal and the EMARS II started formally November 1, 2008. The overall objective of the project is to further enhance the market surveillance of non-food consumer products in Europe. This is to be achieved through the practical application of the best practice developed under the first EMARS project (EMARS I) and the development of additional best practices. Twenty-four countries have committed to participate in the project, a substantial increase on the 15 in the current project. The eight themes identified in the Strategy document (see above) form the basis of eight specific tasks under EMARS II that will be addressed in addition to the core coordination tasks. (EMARS Enhancing Market Surveillance Through Best Practice Newsletter, March 8, 2009)

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Upcoming Events top

1. ICPHSO Symposium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Oct. 26-28, 2009
Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel
123 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON
Check ICPHSO’s Web site for current information and program details in the future.

2. ICPHSO Annual Meeting and Training Seminar, Feb. 15-18, 2010
Capital Hilton
Washington, D.C.
Check ICPHSO’s Web site for current information and program details in the future.

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