Intertek Champions Improved Product Safety by Providing Enhanced Training and Education
07 Oct 2010
Company emphasizes importance of incorporating the discipline of design appraisal in product development
Oak Brook, IL – Intertek, a leading provider of quality and safety solutions serving a wide range of industries around the world, has been certified as the first training provider and examiner for the new Safe Design Professional (Saf-D-Pro) Certification Scheme, enabling Intertek, the company that pioneered design hazard analysis and design appraisal in consumer product development, to play an integral role in helping to promote a greater focus on product design in the consumer goods industry. Intertek’s certification comes about as the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced that building safety into every product at every stage of production prior to being available on store shelves is a key priority for the organization as it strives to avoid future product recalls. The CPSC also emphasized that more attention to product design and assembly is key to meeting product safety mandates at the 3rd Annual Product Safety & Liability Conference, held this week in Washington, D.C.
“Every year, millions of consumer products, including power tools, window treatments, toys, food, household appliances and cars, are recalled because of possible injury risks resulting from normal, everyday use. Nearly 75 percent of these product recalls are the result of design defects,” said Gene Rider, President of Intertek Consumer Goods North America. “Design appraisal, Design Hazard Analysis® and design review are professional disciplines that can have enormous impact on consumer product safety when conducted consistently and reliably. It is essential for everyone in the supply chain to have qualified product safety experts to ensure that design appraisal – the most critical step in any comprehensive product safety system – is conducted by knowledgeable and qualified individuals.”
The Saf-D-Pro Certification Scheme has been developed by RABQSA International, Inc. in conjunction with the Saf-D-Pro Scheme Committee to provide international recognition for Certified Design Appraisers who conduct safety assessments on consumer product designs. The Committee included notable industry experts such as Robyn Easton, Consumers' Federation of Australia; Joanne Vincenten, European Child Safety Alliance; Dr. James Reilly, Nemours-duPont Hospital for Children; as well as others with extensive consumer product risk assessment and risk management experience.
Saf-D-Pro encompasses competency-based product design certification criteria in each of the key elements of effective design appraisal, including knowledge of product safety standards, recall and incident data, human factors and foreseeable use/misuse analysis, hazard identification and characterization, and engineering, chemical and microbiological analysis.
To learn more about or apply for RABQSA’s Saf-D-Pro Certification Scheme, please visit: http://www.rabqsa.com/cb_safdpro.html
To learn more about Intertek’s Design Hazard Analysis® capabilities, please visit: https://www.intertek.com/risk-management/design-hazard-analysis/
About RABQSA
RABQSA creates value for you and your customers. We design, develop, and deliver personnel and training certification services relevant to your industry.
Contact:
Amy Paille, Public Relations Coordinator, Intertek Consumer Goods North America
Phone: +1.630.481.3163
Email: amy.paille@intertek.com