Creating safer consumer products is a noble pursuit bestowing benefits to society and makes business sense because it reduces potential health risks; the risk of legal liability; the risk of product recalls and the attendant costs and reputational damage; and the risk of product failure. From a health risk perspective, potential adverse health effects are evaluated throughout the lifecycle of a product:
•From the early development stage when considering the product’s ingredients and formulation •To the post-market stage when the product is in use by consumers. This guidance is provided by various jurisdictions and industry groups. From a human factors or user experience perspective, one and the same iterative formative testing processes can be leveraged to: •Decrease product risk •Improve usability •Enhance user experience.
The FDA’s human factors guidance provides a blueprint for a process that could be translated to the consumer product world.
Consumers and municipalities are poorly equipped to deal with the types and volume of waste that is generated when products and packaging have reached their end of life. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations/programs are one of the solutions that are many countries globally are turning toward to better manage this problem. When retailers, brands, and manufactures are assigned responsibility to fund and engage in management of these wastes, recycling can increase, while reducing resource consumption and emissions.
The intent of this session is to: raise awareness of these important regulations, help attendees get a better idea of how EPR may be applicable to them, provide visibility into future regulations, and share ideas about how to address these requirements.
The panel will share their knowledge, perspectives, and insights from their different position in the product life cycle, within, a major retailer, an IT/electronics company, and skilled service provider focusing on EPR.
Each of the ICPHSO strategic committees will host one open meeting as a breakout session throughout the symposium, where attendees can attend and get first-hand insight and experience what the committees do and how they serve ICPHSO and further our mission in preparation for the open call for volunteers to join the 2025 strategic committee groups that will be formed shortly after the symposium concludes. This will also present an opportunity to showcase one of our "member only" activities in the hopes of encouraging an interested non-member in joining ICPHSO to be eligible to serve on an open committee slot.
Changing consumer rights are impacting product recall implementation but are they also changing outcomes? Panellists will discuss how they are seeing approaches to recalls and consumer remedies change to meet new legislative expectations and the impact that they may or may not be seeing.
