CPSC Launches Searchable Database for Consumers | DC Metro Area Personal Injury Law Blog

Posted by Salvatore J. Zambri, founding partner

On April 15, 2010, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted to begin working on a searchable database, www.saferproducts.gov, intended to make complaints about unsafe products visible to the public.  Product recalls have been posted on the CPSC website for some time.  However, the new database will allow consumers to view concerns before any official action is taken on complaints from individuals and safety groups.  Congress ordered creation of the new database in 2008 as part of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) that increased product safety oversight after a series of lead-paint toy recalls.  Consumer groups say the new site will help consumers make better-informed purchasing decisions.

According to CPSC Chairman Inez Tanebaum, “The database has the potential to create a new generation of consumers educated about product hazards in and around their homes.”   The new database is scheduled to go online in March, 2011.

In its Report to Congress Pursuant to Section 212 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, CPSC states that the database “will result in increased effectiveness and greater productivity, as well as earlier product safety hazard detection and more rapid warnings to the public.”

SaferProducts.gov includes the following organizational goals:

• raise public awareness of new, easier methods for reporting product incidents,
• provide the public with new and innovative ways to learn of product incidents and notices of recalls,
• increase public access to product information, including manufacturer comments and CPSC’s responses to incident reports, and
• enhance CPSC’s ability to share information with other federal, state and local agencies.

Informed consumers make smarter decisions when purchasing products.  The new SaferProducts.gov database should allow American to make better, safer purchasing decisions.

About the author:

Mr. Zambri is a Past-President of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. and has been rated by Washingtonian magazine as a “Big Gun” and among the “top 1%” of all lawyers in the Washington metropolitan area. The magazine also describes him as “one of Washington’s best–most honest and effective lawyers” who specializes in personal injury matters, including serious truck and car collisions. Mr. Zambri has also been repeatedly named a “Super Lawyer” by Law and Politics magazine–a national publication that honors the top lawyers in America.

Mr. Zambri is regularly asked to give presentations to lawyers and businesses regarding product defects and safety improvements.

If you want more information about your legal rights, please email Mr. Zambri at [email protected] or call him at 202-822-1899.