Stuart M. Statler — Safety Strategies

Perform strategic consulting services with respect to risks from consumer products, how they are dealt with, and the impact of federal regulation. The products are those subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, on which I served a seven-year term as Commissioner (and acting-Chairman  and Vice-Chair for extended periods). Consulting assignments commonly involve assessment and management of the risk involved, product recall analysis, regulatory options, and litigation support. Presented expert testimony in deposition and at trial on some 150 occasions in both federal and state court actions.  Areas covered include product marketing, safer design considerations, the primacy of safety, manufacturer and supplier accountability, quality assurance, and warnings.  Counseled major manufacturers and retailers on product recalls and have regularly assessed risks from foreseeable, even if unintended, uses of consumer products.  Also advise re:

• conformance with responsible manufacturing & marketing practices
• compliance with statutory hazard reporting obligations under the Consumer Product Safety Act
• management and efficacy of product recalls
• impact of, and interface with federal safety regulation
• product defect, liability, and warning considerations
• adequacy of industry safety standards
• compliance with applicable regulations and policies.

The CPSC is an independent federal regulatory agency empowered to address unreasonable product risks by encouraging industry to correct hazards and develop voluntary safety standards; mandating federal standards; disclosing risk information; or ordering a ban, seizure, or recall, to remove unsafe products from the market.  Appointed by President Carter and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, I have been engaged with respect to such hazards as: gas valves, electric heaters, wood stoves, kerosene heaters, appliances, extension cords, flammable sprays & adhesives, chain saws, riding and  walk-behind  power mowers, power tools, UTV fires, fireworks, tap water scalds, lead paint, infant gates, cribs, playpens, & walkers, toys & small parts, automatic garage doors, ladders, bunk beds, hot water heaters, amusement rides, furniture fires, window blind cords, tv carts, televisions, swimming pools & spas, e-cigarettes, tree stands used in hunting, and more. Also dealt with such longer-term risks as methylene chloride in paint removers, toxic emissions from kerosene heaters, and formaldehyde in manufactured housing, furnishings and insulation.

Previously served as Special Assistant to the Chairman of the National Commission on Product Safety [1968-70], precursor agency to the CPSC, which examined the adequacy of measures to protect the American public against unreasonable risks from consumer products used around the home and in recreation. The panel's final report led Congress to enact the Consumer Product Safety Act [CPSA]. Advised the NCPS Chairman on all substantive matters, prepared testimony to Congress, organized hearings around specific product risks, coordinated analysis of the adequacy of the common law in addressing product hazards, and drafted proposed legislation which later became the Child Protection and Toy Safety Act of 1969.  Also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Commission's Final Report to Congress and the President, and co-drafted the basic outline of the later-enacted CPSA.