Recalls Won't Keep You Safe

Just because an unsafe product has been recalled doesn’t mean it isn’t still for sale somewhere. It also doesn’t mean that if you have sourced that unsafe product for your client, that you will know that a recall is even in place. Your responsibility for sourcing product is not a passive exercise. Every product you deliver to your clients should be vetted actively first.

The US Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, which analyzed the number of recalls issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, is calling on federal regulators and lawmakers this month to examine regulations that can slow removal of products from the market.

The group's “Safe at Home” report, issued two weeks ago, found 292 recall announcements in 2022, a 33 percent increase over years prior. Of those, 65 recalls involved 652 injuries and six deaths. Product recalls are tied to “serious incidents” and injuries which, in some cases, can then take years to get the product off the market. Companies are required to disclose incidents if their product injures, could potentially injure or kill someone, doesn’t comply with consumer product safety rules, requires a consumer to seek medical attention, or is facing a lawsuit.

Teresa Murray, consumer watchdog and author of the Safe at Home report, said when it comes to taking harmful products off the market, companies should notify the commission within six hours of the incident, but frequently don't. She cites Peloton as an example, which just agreed to pay a $19 million fine to the commission after the company knowingly didn't self-report entrapment incidents from December 2018 to December 2019 involving their treadmill. By the time Peloton notified the CPSC, a child had died, 13 people had broken bones, lacerations, and friction burns, and there were 150 reports of people, pets, and objects getting pulled under the treadmill. A recall finally was put in place May 5, 2021.

Murray said Congress should revoke a provision known as Section 6(b), that prohibits the commission "from disclosing information about a consumer product that identifies a manufacturer or private labeler." The provision also requires the commission to give the company an "opportunity to comment on the accuracy of the information."

“If Section 6(b) were to be repealed, then the CPSC would be free to warn people when they have gotten a lot of complaints about something…and go ahead and issue recalls,” Murray said. “They’re very reluctant to do that because they have to jump through all these legal hoops now first.”

CPSC Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric previously noted the CPSC is the only federal safety agency that operates with this type of restriction. “As long as 6(b) remains in law, the CPSC cannot adequately inform the public of unreasonable risk of injury associated with products that are often already in consumers’ homes,” he said.

We all are consumers and as our default position, trust that when we buy a product it’s safe. It’s assumed, without specific knowledge, that products have gone through testing and meet certain safety standards, many required by federal law. Yet that’s often not the case, or a defect surfaces, and the product later gets recalled. Even with products that don’t have to comply with specific safety standards, companies must report to the CPSC, within 24 hours, anytime they receive information that “reasonably suggests” the product could cause a health or safety hazard, even if no injuries have been reported. The law covers manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers. It’s certainly applicable to promotional products--we all are ultimately responsible.

While companies are supposed to notify the CPSC of reportable incidents, consumers, doctors, coroners, and other officials will sometimes file complaints directly with the CPSC through saferproducts.gov. The CPSC then investigates to determine whether the product represents a hazard or demands “corrective action.”

In some cases, a company will notify the CPSC about a serious incident or death, and the CPSC will discover incidents that weren’t reported. There isn’t necessarily a timetable for determining whether a recall is warranted. This process can take months, or even years.

Obviously, this is a complex problem to work through. If you want to be sure that you are not sourcing recalled products for your clients, there are a couple of resources to help. Especially if the product you’re considering is expensive or an item for a child, check for recalls on cpsc.gov/recalls and for complaints on saferproducts.gov first. The government logs a list of product recalls online. Besides CPSC recalls, try recalls.gov for recalls across other consumer protection agencies. Your clients, and their customers, are worth the extra effort to make sure products haven’t been recalled and still floating around the market- just waiting to cause injuries, or even worse.