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One Year of Safer Products! Search, Report, Check for Recalls

By CPSC Blogger on March 8, 2012

One year! That’s how long it’s been since the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission launched SaferProducts.gov. This first year of the government’s consumer products safety information website has been the year of the empowered consumer.

Here’s what Year One has looked like:

So far, more than 6,600 of you have reported products to CPSC that caused harm or the potential to harm someone in and around your home. These reports are published and available for all consumers to see and use. More are published every day.

SaferProducts.gov is valuable to you because now there is a single place to visit to search for incident reports about products, file an incident report, or check for recall information. Before SaferProducts.gov, you would have had to file a Freedom of Information Act request about a specific product and manufacturer to learn about consumer product complaints received by CPSC. Now, you can search for this public information easily on the website.

About 36% of your reports involve kitchen products. Mostly, those involve electric ranges or ovens, dishwashers, refrigerators, microwaves and coffee and tea pots. Here’s a list of the Top 10 reports to SaferProducts.gov:

Most Common SaferProducts.gov Reports by Product Type (as of March 1, 2012)
Product Reports to SaferProducts.gov Percent of Reports
Electric ranges or ovens(excl. countertop ovens) 638 9.7%
Dishwashers 440 6.7%
Footwear 293 4.5%
Refrigerators 277 4.2%
Microwave Ovens 190 2.9%
Light Bulbs 164 2.5%
Gas ranges and ovens 146 2.2%
Electric coffee makers or tea pots 144 2.2%
Cribs 134 2.0%
Non-metal cookware 114 1.7%

 

So, what’s next in Year Two of SaferProducts.gov? First, we want more consumers to learn about and use this valuable public resource. So, we’re launching a public service video campaign.  We hope these videos will make you laugh and make you more informed all at once. So, enjoy… and then share.

These videos will be posted on all of CPSC’s social media sites, including our YouTube page. You might see them in Facebook and Google ads, or even on your Facebook news stream if enough of you like them.

Second, we have been hard at work on a set of challenges for app developers. Over the next year, we will open a stream of the SaferProducts.gov information through a developer API. And then, we’re going to challenge software developers to become innovative with the information. Create mobile apps. Devise scanners that help people find and use SaferProducts.gov information from their phones. Build search tools so that when people search on the Web, they see SaferProducts.gov reports along with product reviews.

We hope you bookmark SaferProducts.gov, use the information to make your home and family safer, and tell your friends about the site, too.

March 17, 2012, Update: See the coverage of SaferProducts.gov’s anniversary on CPSC’s Storify page.

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This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2012/03/one-year-of-safer-products-search-report-check-for-recalls/

SaferProducts Is Born!

By CPSC Blogger on March 11, 2011

CPSC is proud to be taking part this year in National Consumer Protection Week. This week you’ll see a coordinated campaign at NCPW.gov that encourages you – consumers – nationwide to take full advantage of your rights and make better-informed decisions.

Making informed decisions is what SaferProducts.gov is all about.

Today, CPSC is launching the first consumer product database of its kind.

This database starts with YOU!

Come to SaferProducts.gov. Tell us about safety problems you have experienced with a consumer product. We’re not talking about a product you just don’t like – the slow computer or noisy freezer. Instead, maybe the electric cord on one of your countertop appliances began to melt and smoke during use. Maybe your toddler pulled a small piece off a toy that could be a choking hazard. Maybe you have a power tool with a trigger that gets stuck, preventing the tool from stopping after you have released the trigger.

Here’s how SaferProducts.gov works:

If you experience a safety problem with a consumer product, you should go to www.SaferProducts.gov and click on the button “Report an Unsafe Product.” You fill out an easy to use, interactive form, telling us about the product and what happened. The more details you give us, the better. The form takes about 10 minutes to complete. Before you submit your report, you will be asked whether you want your report to be published on SaferProducts.gov. You will also be asked to verify that your report is true and accurate to the best of your knowledge.

If you say “yes” and submit all of the required information, your report will be put in the queue to appear online for anyone to see. First, we’ll send your report to the product’s manufacturer or private labeler so they can review it and comment on it. Then, in most cases, your report will be published online 10 days after we send it to the business.

Through SaferProducts.gov, you can look up any product you have at home or are thinking of buying. You can see if others reported safety concerns about a product. You can see the manufacturer’s response. The first reports that come in on March 11 should be visible by early April.

Information is power. And this information empowers you. This open access to product safety information puts the power into your hands to make safer choices for your family.

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This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2011/03/saferproducts-is-born/

Coming Next Year: The Consumer Product Safety Information Database

By CPSC Blogger on December 3, 2010

It’s possible – even probable – that you were traveling or cooking just before Thanksgiving and missed a big development for consumers and businesses here at CPSC.

The Commission moved forward to create a publicly available consumer product safety information database. The Commission voted 3-2 to publish a final rule about the database in the Federal Register.

So, what does that mean for you? A lot!

Here’s the lowdown:

Consumers can and do tell us about unsafe products. The difference is currently those reports are not readily accessible by you at this time, but come March of next year, they will be.

SaferProducts.gov
Early next year, you will be able to go to SaferProducts.gov and file a report telling CPSC and other consumers about harmful or potentially harmful consumer products. Real people, just like you, have already tested early versions of CPSC’s new reporting form. They’ve been pleasantly surprised at how easy and intuitive the form is. We hope you will find it easy, too.

Many of you probably already think to contact a store or a manufacturer when you experience a safety problem with a consumer product. But how many of you think “I’ve got to tell the Consumer Product Safety Commission about that”?

That’s EXACTLY what we want you to do and what this database is all about.

You will be able tell CPSC and other consumers about safety issues that you encounter with a consumer product. We will send that report to the manufacturer for a comment. We will then post your report on SaferProducts.gov. We’ll include the manufacturer’s comments as well, if they ask us to do so.

You will also be able to go to SaferProducts.gov and search for products. Maybe it’s something you’re thinking of buying. Maybe it’s something you own. Regardless, you can search, and you will see other consumers’ experience with that product and what the manufacturer’s comments are about those experiences.

It’s transparent, it’s open government and it’s all about serving you, the American public.

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This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2010/12/coming-next-year-the-consumer-product-safety-information-database/