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Product safety standards are no safety guarantee You may well believe that the toaster oven you just bought is safe, that the stroller you purchased for your baby or grandchild was tested before it hit the store, and that no retailer would ever sell you an unsafe gas grill. You could be dead wrong. Many consumers think that all products follow safety standards and that they must be tested for compliance before they are sold. But most of the 15,000 consumer products that fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal agency responsible for protecting consumers from serious injury and death, have no specific federal safety standards. Instead, the CPSC relies heavily on voluntary standards developed by organizations such as the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), ASTM International, and Underwriters Laboratories (UL). But that practice is an accident waiting to happen. standards: none, Weak, ignored During the 2005 fiscal year, the CPSC administered 397 recalls of unsafe products that were already in stores. A small number of products weren't covered by specific safety standards, but a large majority of recalls were for products that met mandatory or voluntary safety standards and were later found to be unsafe. Among products not covered by specific safety standards are new inflatable swimming pools which lie outside standards for above-ground pools, though they pose an even greater drowning risk. Safety-standards development is typically a reactive process; if injuries are high enough, a voluntary-standards committee begins to develop an industry standard. Manufacturers hoping to avoid the cost and effort of following new rules may object to the proposals, dragging out the process while people continue to be hurt. Our March 2006 report on furniture tip-over highlights a case where existing safety standards are too weak to prevent injury and death. Since ASTM International issued a furniture tip-over safety standard, annual fatalities have actually increased. Our tests show why children, in particular, are at risk. We're working with ASTM to fix that. There are cases of widespread noncompliance with industry standards, since no organization routinely monitors or requires adherence. One result: Only one of the four TV stands we tested for this issue met the tip-over part of the existing voluntary UL standard. The need for reform Deaths, injuries, and property loss could be reduced with these reforms: • Congress should ensure that the CPSC is properly funded and staffed, and allowed to keep unsafe products off the market. • Manufacturers should be legally required to conduct premarket testing, especially of children's products. • Retailers must be held accountable for selling unsafe products. They should test or require proof of testing and not sell any products that don't meet safety standards. • Standards-setting groups should monitor market compliance and the effectiveness of the standards they develop, and move quickly to fix deficiencies.
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