2009 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT AND THE CONGRESS United States Consumer Product Safety Commission Report to the President and Congress Pursuant to Section 209 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is submitting to the President, the Congress, and the public this report as required under section 27(j) (15 U.S.C. 2076(j)) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) as amended by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). The content of this report is specified in the CPSA and CPSIA. This report describes many of the activities performed to protect the public from hazardous consumer products. Readers may also be interested in CPSC’s 2009 Performance and Accountability Report, required by the Government Performance and Results Act. All reports are available on CPSC’s Web site www.cpsc.gov. CPSC (or the Commission), established by Congress in 1972, is the federal regulatory body tasked to protect children and families from unreasonable risks of injuries associated with consumer products. Through the years, the consumer product world has changed dramatically. The production of consumer goods has migrated from the United States to locations all around the world, often in less regulated environments. The number of producers, importers, brokers, distributors and retailers involved in the supply chain has grown exponentially. The entire consumer product world is more complex, and changing rapidly. In recent years, a record number of recalls demonstrated the many challenges of this new consumer product world. CPSC stands for safety, and has been effective in reducing consumer product-related injury and death rates by using a wide range of strategies to identify and address product safety hazards. These strategies are: • Hazard Identification and Monitoring: collecting information and monitoring injury and death statistics related to the use of products under CPSC’s jurisdiction; • Safety Standards: participating in the development and strengthening of voluntary safety standards and developing mandatory standards; • Compliance and Enforcement: enforcing compliance with standards through compliance activities, such as recalls or other corrective actions, and litigating when necessary; • Public Outreach: educating foreign governments, industry, and consumers about product safety standards and issues, alerting the public to safety hazards, and informing them of safe practices; and • Intergovernmental Coordination: coordinating on product safety issues with other governmental stakeholders. The report is organized around the five strategies noted above. 2009 REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS i CONTENTS HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND MONITORING .......................................................................... 1 TABLE 1 - DEATHS ASSOCIATED WITH THE USE OF CERTAIN CONSUMER PRODUCTS ........................................... 3 TABLE 2 - ESTIMATES OF HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOM TREATED INJURIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE USE OF CERTAIN CONSUMER PRODUCTS ................................................................................................................................. 4 TABLE 3 – PERCENT OF HOSPITALIZED EMERGENCY ROOM TREATED INJURIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE USE OF CERTAIN CONSUMER PRODUCTS .................................................................................................................... 5 TABLE 4 - ESTIMATES OF THE COST OF EMERGENCY ROOM TREATED CONSUMER PRODUCT INJURIES .................. 6 PRODUCT GROUPS ....................................................................................................................................... 7 SAFETY STANDARDS ........................................................................................................... 9 1) MANDATORY SAFETY STANDARDS ....................................................................................................... 11 2) VOLUNTARY SAFETY STANDARDS ....................................................................................................... 15 3) RESEARCH ACTIVITIES ....................................................................................................................... 16 COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT ..................................................................................... 21 1) VOLUNTARY RECALL ORDERS TAKEN BY IMPORTERS OR MANUFACTURERS ............................................. 22 2) LETTERS OF ADVICE TO IMPORTERS OR MANUFACTURERS ..................................................................... 64 3) COMMISSION DETERMINATIONS AND JUDICIAL ACTIONS ........................................................................112 PUBLIC OUTREACH ......................................................................................................... 116 1) CONSUMER OUTREACH .....................................................................................................................118 2) DISSEMINATION OF TECHNICAL INFORMATION ......................................................................................124 3) COOPERATION BETWEEN COMMISSION OFFICIALS AND EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS .................................126 INTERGOVERNMENTAL COORDINATION ............................................................................ 138 1) MAJOR STATE SUPPORTED SAFETY INITIATIVES ..................................................................................138 2) STATE AND LOCAL PROGRAMS ...........................................................................................................138 3) SIGNIFICANT COMMUNICATION WITH OTHER GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES AND OFFICES ............................139 To view the electronic version of this document with active links throughout, visit the CPSC Web site at: www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/reports/2009rpt.pdf 2009 REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS Hazard Identification and Monitoring HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND MONITORING The Commission, in fulfilling its mission to protect the public against unreasonable risks of injuries associated with consumer products, collects, reviews and analyzes data on deaths, injuries, and societal costs associated with such products. This section describes the “Incidence of Injury and Effects to the Population” associated with products under the jurisdiction of the Commission. Four tables present summary data by totals and by age groups for: o Product-related deaths; o Product-related injuries; o Percent of emergency room visits resulting in hospitalization; and o Estimated costs of injuries. Product-Related Deaths (Table 1). CPSC collects mortality data through contracts with each state. CPSC reviews about 8,000 death certificates each year covering unintentional product- related deaths from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and New York City. CPSC purchases death certificates that have a high probability of consumer product involvement; therefore these data are a minimal count of deaths. While the deaths and injuries in this table represent product involvement, that involvement does not necessarily indicate causality. Product-Related Injuries (Table 2). Each year, CPSC collects information about product-related injuries through its National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). This unique system provides statistically valid national estimates of product-related injuries from a probability sample of hospital emergency rooms (ER) and is the foundation for many CPSC activities. These injury reports not only provide the means for estimating the magnitude of consumer product-related injuries in the United States, but also provide a source for gathering further information concerning the nature and probable cause of the accident. Several foreign governments have modeled their national injury data collection systems after CPSC’s system. Annually, NEISS supplies over 360,000 product-related cases from a sample of about 100 hospitals. The hospitals transmit incident information electronically and, in some cases, the data are available within 24 hours after an incident. While the deaths and injuries in this table represent product involvement, that involvement does not necessarily indicate causality. ER Cost Estimation (Tables 3 & 4). To estimate costs of injuries, CPSC employs the Revised Injury Cost Model. The costs reported in this report do not include the costs of consumer product- related injuries that were treated elsewhere, such as in physicians’ offices, health maintenance organizations, and freestanding urgent care clinics. Estimates also do not include the economic losses of fatalities associated with the use of consumer products. These losses may be substantial. Furthermore, cost estimates are not available for many acute and chronic illnesses associated with exposure to chemical hazards. The number and cost of these illnesses are expected to be large. Product Groups. Products are aggregated into 15 product groupings (see pgs. 9-10). These products are described in the NEISS Coding Manual (2009), Directorate for Epidemiology, U.S. CPSC. (http://www.cpsc.gov/neiss/completemanual.pdf) Additional Data. For products where Commission remedial action has been considered, additional data are collected and analyzed to develop more detailed estimates. Based on interviews with victims or witnesses, the Commission identifies causes of incidents, including the interaction among the person, the product and the environment. Using all the available data, the Commission staff periodically prepares hazard analysis reports for