The Duty to Warn

Even though warnings and instructions are not followed by all product users, they are important for product safety and product liability defensibility. Manufacturers must decide how safe to design their products and when they can also rely on warnings and instructions to make the product safe.

The Legal Perils of Customer Service

Customer service, before and after sale, is one of the most important functions that must be performed by a manufacturer or product seller. It is also one of the riskiest. Obtaining no information, inadequate information, wrong information, misleading information, or harmful information can make it difficult to evaluate future risk, meet your regulatory obligations, and defend a product liability lawsuit.

CPSC Gets Aggressive About Failure to Report

Since early 2021, the failure to report or late reporting to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has resulted in significant civil penalty settlements. Manufacturers need to understand their legal responsibilities when analyzing post-sale incidents, injuries, and lawsuits so that they can argue that they met their statutory reporting responsibilities.

Product Liability Law and Its Effect on Product Safety

Manufacturers should understand product liability law and consider it pre-sale when they design and manufacture their products and after sale when they deal with potential product safety problems reported to them by consumers. Doing so will result in safer products and, if there is a lawsuit, a better defense.

Duty to Warn Non-English Speaking and Reading Product Users

How does a manufacturer comply with its duty to warn, given the number of people in the U.S. who do not read English or any language? Does the law require multilingual labels or safety symbols, and when is it a good idea to include them?

Preparing For and Implementing Product Recalls in 2022

Recalls are a major contributor to product liability incidents and lawsuits, interactions with government safety agencies, disputes with suppliers and product sellers, and negative publicity with the buying public. New guides have recently been issued that can help a manufacturer and product seller to better understand how to prepare for and implement an effective recall.

Safety Programs and CPSC Mandates

Safety management programs are necessary to help a company make safe products and monitor safety for products in use. The CPSC has provided lots of guidances and mandates over the years on what constitutes an adequate program. These guidances are potentially useful to those companies seeking to establish a CPSC-compliant safety program and should be considered as part of the program development process.

Navigating the “Safety Hierarchy”

The safety hierarchy is a flexible concept that can be helpful in deciding on a final product design. But it can also be a trap for the unwary design engineer. This article will discuss the safety hierarchy concept, how do you comply with its requirements, and what are the problems associated with it?