1999 Annual Report

Dear Members of Congress: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is pleased to submit its report for fiscal year 1999. As an independent federal agency, CPSC helps keep families, especially children, safe in their homes, schools, in recreation and in other places by overseeing the safety of 15,000 types of consumer products. To reduce injuries and deaths associated with these products, CPSC identifies and analyzes product hazards, works with industry to develop voluntary safety standards for products, monitors compliance with voluntary standards, issues and enforces mandatory standards, obtains voluntary recalls of dangerous products from the marketplace, and informs the public of potential product risks. CPSC’s mission is critical. Though we have had many successes, there is still much work to accomplish. Injuries kill more children than any disease in the U.S., and account for a sixth of all hospital stays. There is an average of 22,000 deaths and more than 29 million injuries each year related to consumer products. Each year, CPSC saves the nation many times the agency’s annual budget. While it is impossible to accurately measure how many tragedies we prevent each year, the agency’s primary performance measures are reductions in deaths, injuries and other costs to the nation, such as health care costs and property damage. The performance measures that are available prove that CPSC’s activities do provide a substantial benefit. The work of CPSC has contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rates of deaths and injuries related to consumer products since the agency’s inception. This year, CPSC worked with industry to obtain more than 300 corrective actions involving about 75 million consumer product units. About 95 of these actions were toys and children's products, involving more than 60 million product units. About 140 firms participated in the Fast Track Product Recall Program to speed up the recall of hazardous products. The following pages explain in detail CPSC's work in fiscal year 1999, which helped reduce injuries and save lives. As Chairman, and with my esteemed colleagues Vice-Chairman Mary Sheila Gall and Commissioner Thomas Hill Moore, we will see that CPSC continues to share the responsibility of product safety with our product-safety partners, industry and the American public. Sincerely, Ann Brown ii CONTENTS CPSC Highlights................................................................................................................................1 Revisions to Soft Bedding Recommendations..........................................................................1 Child Care Safety...................................................................................................................1 Phthalates ..............................................................................................................................1 Bicycle Helmets .....................................................................................................................1 New Weekly Summary for Newspapers.................................................................................2 Import Surveillance ................................................................................................................2 Recall Round-Up ...................................................................................................................2 CPSC Activities.................................................................................................................................2 Hazard Identification and Reduction....................................................................................................3 Data Collection: National Electronic Injury Surveillance System...............................................3 Studies...............................................................................................................................3-5 Mandatory Standards.............................................................................................................5 Voluntary Standards...........................................................................................................5-7 Conferences....................................................................................................................... 7 Enforcement and Compliance Activities ..............................................................................................8 Criminal and Civil Investigations..............................................................................................8 Import Surveillance .............................................................................................................. 9 Enforcing Product Regulations ..............................................................................................10 Corrective Actions Under Section 15 ...................................................................................10 Civil Penalties.......................................................................................................................10 Fast Track Product Recall Program......................................................................................11 Litigation..............................................................................................................................11 Field Activities .................................................................................................................................12 Recall Round-up ..................................................................................................................12 Public Information Programs.............................................................................................................13 Media Relations ...................................................................................................................13 Radio Access.......................................................................................................................13 New Weekly News Summary..............................................................................................13 Safety Partnerships...............................................................................................................13 Chairman’s Commendations.................................................................................................14 Publications .........................................................................................................................14 Information Services.........................................................................................................................14 Hotline.................................................................................................................................14 Information Technology........................................................................................................15 Internet................................................................................................................................15 Clearinghouse ......................................................................................................................16 iii APPENDICES Appendix A: Deaths, Injuries, and Cost of Injuries from Consumer Products A-1 Appendix B: Policies, Final Regulations, and Proposed Regulations B-1 Appendix C: Meetings of Substantial Interest C-1 Appendix D: Log and Status of Petitions and Applications D-1 Appendix E: Voluntary Standards Activities E-1 Appendix F: Voluntary Corrective Action Plans and Product Recalls F-1 Subsection A/Regulatory Recalls Subsection B/Section 15 Recalls Appendix G: Litigation and Settlements G-1 Appendix H: Index of Products Regulated by CPSC H-1 Appendix I: Federal-State Cooperative Program I-1 Appendix J: Organizational Structure and Functions J-1 iv CPSC Highlights Child Care Safety In 1999, CPSC visited 220 child care settings across the United States and found that two-thirds had at least one of the targeted safety hazards. Targeted hazards included: drawstrings on children's clothing, inadequate playground safety surfacing, loops in window blind cords, soft bedding in cribs, lack of safety gates in necessary areas and recalled products. To help remedy this situation, CPSC prepared a Child Care Safety Checklist for child care providers and parents. CPSC sent the checklist to many groups nationwide, including the National Child Care Information Center, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Head Start, and state licensing authorities and other providers and organizations that work with them. Revisions to Soft Bedding Recommendations On April 8, 1999, CPSC joined with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to issue revised recommendations on safe bedding practices when putting infants down to sleep. They recommended that infants under 12 months be placed to sleep on their backs on a firm, tight-fitting mattress in a crib that meets current safety standards and that pillows, quilts, comforters, sheepskins and other pillow-like soft products be removed from the crib. Previously, CPSC recommended that infants should never be placed on top of soft, fluffy bedding because if the baby rolls over, the bedding can become molded around the infant’s face. New information shows that some babies have been found dead with their heads covered by soft bedding even while sleeping

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