2025 ICPHSO Annual Meeting and Training Symposium

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 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.

EPR is a timely topic, given it has become more active with EPR laws passed in 5 states recently on packaging and many others having legislative activity, while an EPR law for apparel/textile has been signed by the governor of California in the fall of 2024.

The intent of this session is to: raise awareness of this important type of regulation/program, help attendees get a better idea of how EPR may be applicable to them, provide some visibility into future regulations, and share ideas about how to start addressing these requirements.

The panel will share their knowledge, perspectives, and insights from their different position in the product life cycle, within a major retailer that must comply with many of these regulations (Canadian Tire), and skilled service provider focusing on EPR support (Accerio).

This session will give an overview of:

1. How EPR programs are generally set up / who is responsible for what actions / how funding
by obligated parties connects to the volume and type of product sales
2. Why they are beneficial and support circularity and sustainability
3. What are some of the existing EPR programs related to consumer products in the US and
Canada – an overview of this information has been compiled in a few slides to ease of
sharing, along with some additional resources
4. What is on the horizon in the U.S. and Canada? EPR for apparel?
5. Insights from the EU on EPR – can it affect North American companies?

In addition to helping attendees better understand how EPR programs work and how the landscape of regulations is changing the session will also:

6. Help them think about how to start addressing potential obligations
7. Provide insights from two companies dealing with these types of requirements from different
perspectives and how they work on compliance
8. Highlight the importance of data and provide recommendations
As part of the session, rapid polling will be conducted to gauge the attendees: familiarity with EPR,
level of existing activity in this topic, interest in EPR for specific product/packaging items, (and/or
other questions).

Each of the ICPHSO strategic committees will host one open meeting as a breakout session during the symposium, where attendees can attend and get first-hand insight and experience what the committees do and how they serve ICPHSO.  This also furthers 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.

In a world where consumer trust linked to safety as well as sustainability is becoming ever more important, the overlap between ESG and safety requirements is an increasingly complex area that stakeholders must navigate. During this session, we will seek perspectives and experiences from industry and external advisors on the growing role of environmental regulation in product safety, the challenges and opportunities that this presents, and hopes and fears as we head into 2025. Attendees will gain insights into how businesses are incorporating ESG goals to enhance safety, transparency, and sustainability in product development and supply chains. Key topics include:

•        The Role of ESG in Product Safety: Why aligning safety practices with ESG is essential for consumer trust and corporate resilience.
•       Best Practices and Innovations: Examples of how companies are integrating ESG compliance into their safety strategies.
•       Regulatory Trends and Compliance: Understanding how global ESG and safety regulations are shaping industry practice.
•       Challenges and Opportunities: Navigating complexities and leveraging ESG to drive safer, more sustainable products. 

Join industry leaders and experts for this engaging discussion on creating a safer, more responsible future through the synergy of ESG and product safety.

Reparability, sustainability, durability have become key words in the products world. Authorities, NGOs and consumers want to have products' lifespan extended in an easy and cheap way, even when products present high technology. Consumers do not necessarily want to go to the manufacturer to get spare parts, want to choose where to repair their products and how, even when it relates to safety-related components. Once there is an issue, the brand manufacturer is however always the one whose liability is sought. But when is a product not anymore the initial product? When is the manufacturer not the manufacturer anymore? How far should manufacturers anticipate changes that can be done to their products?

Attendees will learn about newly available functional children's strength data gathered by University of Michigan through a project funded by CPSC. A diverse panel of representatives from the research study team, product standards and regulatory bodies, consulting, and industry will present the study methods and results, discuss how the research is aimed to be used for standards development, and how child strength data is used in product design or safety assessments.
Minimal information on strength is available for children under age 6 years. To address this gap, 580 children ages 2 through 11 years participated in this study. Exertion tasks included standing pushing and pulling with one and two hands, seated pushes and pulls with one and two hands, seated pushing with both feet, and other hand strength measures. Interface forces were measured for an additional 170 children ages 6 to 23 months who interacted with toy-like objects.

This outcomes focused session will explore the opportunities for all types of stakeholders to participate and provide feedback at different stages of policy and law making in the EU, US and UK, and in the development of standards. The panel will explore the benefits of engaging, whether stakeholders really can make a difference and discuss ways to make engagement more effective.

In a world where consumer trust linked to safety as well as sustainability is becoming ever more important, the overlap between ESG and safety requirements is an increasingly complex area that stakeholders must navigate. During this session, we will seek perspectives and experiences from industry and external advisors on the growing role of environmental regulation in product safety, the challenges and opportunities that this presents, and hopes and fears as we head into 2025. Attendees will gain insights into how businesses are incorporating ESG goals to enhance safety, transparency, and sustainability in product development and supply chains. Key topics include:

•        The Role of ESG in Product Safety: Why aligning safety practices with ESG is essential for consumer trust and corporate resilience.
•       Best Practices and Innovations: Examples of how companies are integrating ESG compliance into their safety strategies.
•       Regulatory Trends and Compliance: Understanding how global ESG and safety regulations are shaping industry practice.
•       Challenges and Opportunities: Navigating complexities and leveraging ESG to drive safer, more sustainable products. 

Join industry leaders and experts for this engaging discussion on creating a safer, more responsible future through the synergy of ESG and product safety.

Reparability, sustainability, durability have become key words in the products world. Authorities, NGOs and consumers want to have products' lifespan extended in an easy and cheap way, even when products present high technology. Consumers do not necessarily want to go to the manufacturer to get spare parts, want to choose where to repair their products and how, even when it relates to safety-related components. Once there is an issue, the brand manufacturer is however always the one whose liability is sought. But when is a product not anymore the initial product? When is the manufacturer not the manufacturer anymore? How far should manufacturers anticipate changes that can be done to their products?

Attendees will learn about newly available functional children's strength data gathered by University of Michigan through a project funded by CPSC. A diverse panel of representatives from the research study team, product standards and regulatory bodies, consulting, and industry will present the study methods and results, discuss how the research is aimed to be used for standards development, and how child strength data is used in product design or safety assessments.
Minimal information on strength is available for children under age 6 years. To address this gap, 580 children ages 2 through 11 years participated in this study. Exertion tasks included standing pushing and pulling with one and two hands, seated pushes and pulls with one and two hands, seated pushing with both feet, and other hand strength measures. Interface forces were measured for an additional 170 children ages 6 to 23 months who interacted with toy-like objects.

This outcomes focused session will explore the opportunities for all types of stakeholders to participate and provide feedback at different stages of policy and law making in the EU, US and UK, and in the development of standards. The panel will explore the benefits of engaging, whether stakeholders really can make a difference and discuss ways to make engagement more effective.

The presentation will explore the complexities of consumer reporting standards and recall procedures for across the globe (United States, Canada, Europe, UK and Australia). Through a dynamic simulated crisis scenario, we will explore the intricacies of managing a product recall that spans multiple jurisdictions, highlighting the challenges and best practices for ensuring compliance and maintaining consumer trust. This session delves into legal obligations, notification requirements, communication strategies, and operational considerations essential for effectively handling recalls in diverse regulatory environments. Attendees will gain valuable insights into coordinating cross-border responses, understanding the nuances of varying regulatory requirements, and mitigating risks associated with international product distribution.

In today’s fast-paced world, understanding trends in consumer complaint data is essential for proactively addressing potential safety concerns. Effective data analysis, enhanced by AI-driven techniques such as natural language processing (NLP), enables quick identification of issues and the implementation of corrective actions. Thanks to advanced data visualization tools like AWS QuickSight, Power BI, and Tableau, handling and interpreting complex datasets is now more straightforward than ever. This session will demonstrate how these tools, combined with AI processing, can consolidate disparate data sources into a single, cohesive platform, enabling the creation of meaningful metrics and trend visualizations that drive informed decision-making and enhance product safety.

Consumer tech has been in the regulator's spotlight over recent years, with a significant amount of legislation being redrafted or created in order to manage some of the perceived threats and challenges in this area. Join us for a fact packed, insightful and fast paced discussion looking at some of the most recent landmark legislation which we consider will have (or has had) the biggest gamechanger in terms of the consumer tech product safety landscape - and help us decide which piece of legislation will have the biggest impact.

Despite only applying to products sold in California, the testing and labeling requirements of Proposition 65 impact consumer products sold world-wide.  This session will be aimed at providing helpful information to individuals new to Prop65 as well to those who deal with it on a regular basis.  We will review the chemicals that are commonly named in suits across different product categories, discuss ways to prioritize your product portfolio for evaluation, and consider the limitations of limited chemical testing and use of settlement values adopted for different products.  We will also provide an update on new developments such as the increasing number of lawsuits involving PFAS and the proposed plans to alter the nature of the short form warning that is currently used by many companies.

Join ICPHSO’s discussion for a roundtable discussions on accessibility in product safety. This session will explore the integration of accessibility principles into product safety standards, ensuring that products are safe to use for all individuals, including those with disabilities.  Millions of consumer products are used by individuals with unique abilities and needs each day. The roundtable discussion will focus on identifying barriers to implementing accessibility in product safety and best practices to enhance accessibility in product safety and promote inclusive and safe product designs. This session will foster continued collaboration and commitment to accessibility, driving innovation and improving overall product safety standards.

Manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of consumer products are being impacted by laws regulating the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) in their products. This area is rapidly developing as states create new laws or amend existing ones, and the penalties and litigation risks for non-compliance can be significant.
With 13 states having enacted PFAS consumer product laws, and another 10 states having proposed PFAS consumer product laws, the patchwork of state compliance obligations is growing. This panel will provide practical tips on adapting product safety compliance programs to meet evolving PFAS regulatory requirements.
Importantly, the panel will tackle the Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”) Section 8(a)(7), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reporting obligations for PFAS, discuss what evidence that reporting is creating for regulators, and how the Consumer Product Safety Commission might be able to use the information to begin regulating PFAS in products.

When leading physicians presented evidence regarding the prevalence and severity of injuries associated with removing hot food from microwaves, it was clear to relevant stakeholders that they needed to work together to address this challenge.  Armed with the information from that data analysis, manufacturers, regulators, advocacy groups, and other stakeholders created a UL task force to revise the standard This is one of many examples of standard improvements based on strong data and through collaboration.  Stakeholders hoping to address hazards will improve decision-making abilities, reduce risk, and increase efficiency by providing quality data.  Most importantly, all parties must be willing to listen to the data, and each other, to collaborate on a solution.  Those who were at the table will share lessons learned from their work to improve the microwave oven standard and provide advice on how stakeholders can work together to advance product safety.

The CPSC has approved and finalized the eFiling requirements and effective dates of July 8, 2026 and January 8, 2027. The voluntary period is now underway, allowing for importers to gain access to the Product Registry in advance of the mandatory compliance deadlines.

This session features a diverse panel discussion on the background, requirements, impacts and implementation strategies from various viewpoints and experience. By attending, participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of the CPSC eFiling regulation and the most current updates. The panel discussion will provide valuable insights into practical strategies and best practices. Attendees will leave this session with actionable steps to ensure compliance ahead of the upcoming effective dates for compliance.

This session will explore how businesses can effectively align their compliance and sustainability goals by leveraging smart chemical testing strategies. The focus will be on navigating a complex landscape of global regulations, including California Proposition 65, US State PFAS regulations, children’s product reporting rules, and European REACH and POP regulations. The panel will also emphasize the critical role of raw material management and the involvement of industry trade organizations in driving collaboration to meet both regulatory and sustainability challenges. Attendees will gain valuable and actionable insights on integrating chemical management into broader sustainability strategies while ensuring compliance across multiple jurisdictions.

Toy design often starts with engineers, but ensuring accessibility to play with that toy isn’t always part of the equation. By collaborating with experts like occupational therapists, toys can be designed to include as many children as possible, regardless of ability.

This interactive session is designed to get product designers, engineers and product safety professionals to expand their approach to inclusive product design. After a brief presentation by a safety and compliance engineer and an occupational therapist, attendees will work in small groups to redesign a toy based on real-world child's disability considerations. Through hands-on ideation, participants will explore how to integrate inclusive principles into their design process.

After this session, attendees will have a deeper understanding of how to incorporate diverse needs into product development, ultimately expanding play opportunities for more children. They’ll also take-home practical strategies for applying disability-inclusive design principles across all products.

Standards are powerful and effective tools that are widely used by countries to implement legal requirements and ensure product safety. Knowledge of how standards work is key to product safety compliance.

This presentation aims to provide clear picture of the complicated standard system and the implementation of standards in China. It will also include an introduction of standardization in EU and USA, as well as comparison of the three jurisdictions.

The presentation will help the attendees to understand the challenges in compliance with standards. At the same time, providing suggestions and tips on how to overcome the difficulties.

The panel will discuss the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) topic, which is widely applied in different industries and involves stakeholders, retailers, brands, manufacturers, and others. The panel will discuss what LCA is, how it is calculated, and why is it becoming a key element in products safety and environmental assessment. Additionally, the panel with also look into how LCA is shaping new emerging regulation around the world and how will the results of LCA be used in different industries. What are the main datapoints and preparation needed in order to carry out LCAs, how to take into consideration the reusability, repairability of products, and what are the expectations in different industries.

This interactive session with a Program Specialist from CPSC's Small Business Ombudsman office provides attendees an opportunity to ask regulatory and other CPSC related questions through the meeting app. 

In a world where legislation is becoming increasingly complex and supply chains are growing more intricate, managing overheads and ensuring compliance are becoming more challenging than ever. This session, titled "One Product – Many Versions," will delve into the multiple layers of data that shape a product’s journey to market. From test data, labeling, certifications, customer feedback, ESG compliance to legislative data, each layer is crucial for connecting and aligning product safety stakeholders and ensuring meets market needs. The panel will discuss how to effectively navigate these layers, providing practical tips for managing the complexities of compliance in today’s demanding regulatory environment.

The ASTM F3463 Standard Guide for Ensuring the Safety of Connected Consumer Products has recently been updated to include Artificial Intelligence (AI). In consumer products, AI refers to software algorithms that use machine learning and data to perceive the item's environment and users, and autonomously makes decisions to optimize function and user experience. In this session, we will explore why AI is not like other technologies the industry is already familiar with. We will look at some of the unique hazards that can form when using AI, and why the mitigation of risk with AI is unlike anything we have seen before. We will provide insights on how to test AI in connected consumer products. We will provide guidance for different stakeholders on how to establish safety assessment due diligence for a technology that continues to evolve and adapt.