2025 ICPHSO Annual Meeting and Training Symposium: Full Schedule

2:00pm EST

Bag Stuffing - OPEN TO ALL

Sunday February 16, 2025 2:00pm - 4:00pm EST

Come meet returning and new colleagues as the ICPHSO tradition of networking the day before the conference begins with filling the conference bags with sponsored gifts and information, while enjoying pizza, beer and wine.

Speakers

Marc Schoem

Executive Director, ICPHSO

Marc J. Schoem assumed the position of Executive Director of the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO) on October 15, 2015, after more than forty years at the U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). His last position at CPSC was in a senior... Read More →

Sunday February 16, 2025 2:00pm - 4:00pm EST
Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Bag Stuffing

8:00am EST

Associated Meeting - SPLiCE (Invited Guests Only)

Monday February 17, 2025 8:00am - 11:55am EST

Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Monday February 17, 2025 8:00am - 11:55am EST
Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Associated Meetings

12:00pm EST

Sponsored Satellite Session 1: ACMI (Art & Creative Materials Institute) - Artfully Aware: Making Art Safe for Everyone

Monday February 17, 2025 12:00pm - 12:20pm EST

Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Monday February 17, 2025 12:00pm - 12:20pm EST
Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Satellite Sessions

12:30pm EST

Sponsored Satellite Session 3 Cooley: Global Product Safety and Regulatory Compliance: US, UK, EU, and International Updates for 2025 and Beyond

Monday February 17, 2025 12:30pm - 12:50pm EST

Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Speakers

Rod Freeman

International Products Lawyer, Cooley

Rod Freeman is an International Products Lawyer. He is routinely ranked as a leading product litigation lawyer in the major legal directories, where he is described as “the outstanding go-to specialist for product liability matters”, “without a shadow of a doubt the most knowledgeable... Read More →

Rebecca Halbach

Cooley

Matt Howsare

Partner, Cooley

Matt is the chair of Cooley’s North American product safety practice and a leading global consumer product safety and compliance lawyer who counsels manufacturers, retailers, distributors, trade associations and consumer product companies on issues within all aspects of a product’s... Read More →

Monday February 17, 2025 12:30pm - 12:50pm EST
Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Satellite Sessions

5:10pm EST

Breakout 1: Improving Consumer Product Safety Using Iterative Product Testing Throughout the Product Development Lifecycle (CLE Credits)

Monday February 17, 2025 5:10pm - 6:00pm EST

Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

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.

Moderators

Sarah-Jane Dobson

Partner, Ashurst LLP

Sarah-Jane Dobson is the Global Head of Product Litigation and Regulatory Risk at Ashurst where she is a Partner in the London office.She is routinely recognised as a market-leading international product safety lawyer in her field, specialising in product compliance, product safety... Read More →

Speakers

Karolyn Helda

Global Services and Technical Services Director, QIMA

Karolyn Helda is the Global Services and Technical Services Director for QIMA’s Consumer Goods division in North America. She has worked in the consumer products safety, compliance, and quality assurance industry for over 30 years. Her knowledge and direct experience span the categories... Read More →

Robert Rauschenberger, Ph.D

Vice President, Director of Human Factors, J.S. Held LLC

Chantal Gavreau

Principal Quality Assurance Engineer, Hasbro

A highly experienced quality assurance and regulatory compliance professional with a proven track record in managing global standards, ensuring compliance with legal and safety regulations, and driving continuous improvement across international teams. Currently serving as a Principal... Read More →

Monday February 17, 2025 5:10pm - 6:00pm EST
Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Breakout

7:30am EST

Sponsored Satellite Session 9: Charlie's House Virtual Safety Experience - A partnership to promote safety around the world

Tuesday February 18, 2025 7:30am - 7:50am EST

Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

This sponsored session features a Charlie's House Virtual Safety Experience. A partnership to promote safety around the world.

Speakers

Brett Horn

Founder, Charlies House

Brett Horn is the founder of Charlie's House in Kansas City, MO, whose mission is to prevent accidents and injuries to children in and around the home. He is also active in other product safety areas as the Vice Chair of Consumer Participation of ASTM Executive Committee on Consumer... Read More →

Tuesday February 18, 2025 7:30am - 7:50am EST
Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Satellite Sessions

9:10am EST

Breakout 7 (REPEATING 11): Power In Little Hands: New Insights in Child Strength for Product and Safety Standards

Tuesday February 18, 2025 9:10am - 10:00am EST

Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

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.

Moderators

Rose Figueroa, PhD, CHFP

Principal Consultant, Rimkus

Dr. Figueroa is a Principal Consultant at Rimkus, where she provides cognitive, perceptual, and physical human factors/ergonomics consulting to assist clients in the investigation and prevention of accidents and injuries, as well as in the evaluation of accidents in a wide range of... Read More →

Speakers

Jonathan Midgett

Consumer Ombudsman, US CPSC

Jonathan Midgett, Ph.D. is the Consumer Ombudsman at the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in Bethesda, Maryland [https://www.cpsc.gov/About-CPSC/Consumer-Ombudsman]. Since joining CPSC in 2001, Dr. Midgett has been evaluating emerging hazards and contributing to the... Read More →

Monica Jones, PhD BCPE

Associate Research Scientist, University of Michigan

Dr. Jones is an Associate Research Scientist in the Biosciences group at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. Her research focuses on human factors, engineering anthropometry, vehicle occupant protection, human modeling for vehicle design and other areas of... Read More →

Tuesday February 18, 2025 9:10am - 10:00am EST
Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Breakout

10:30am EST

Breakout 11 (REPEATING 7): Power In Little Hands: New Insights in Child Strength for Product and Safety Standards

Tuesday February 18, 2025 10:30am - 11:20am EST

Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Moderators

Rose Figueroa, PhD, CHFP

Principal Consultant, Rimkus

Speakers

Jonathan Midgett

Consumer Ombudsman, US CPSC

Monica Jones, PhD BCPE

Associate Research Scientist, University of Michigan

Tuesday February 18, 2025 10:30am - 11:20am EST
Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Breakout

11:30am EST

Breakout 14: Visualizing Consumer Complaints: A Data-Driven Approach to Enhancing Product Safety

Tuesday February 18, 2025 11:30am - 12:20pm EST

Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

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.

Moderators

Lee Tympanick

Senior Quality Engineer, Hasbro

Lee Tympanick is a data-driven safety and quality engineer with over a decade of experience in the toy industry. At Hasbro, Lee leverages tools like Power BI and Power Automate to uncover insights and guide proactive risk mitigation. Dedicated to improving product safety and quality... Read More →

Speakers

Alan Abrahams

Assoc. Professor, Business Information Technology, Virginia Tech

Alan S. Abrahams is an Associate Professor in the Department of Business Information Technology, Pamplin College of Business, at Virginia Tech. His primary research interest is in developing text analytic techniques for detecting product safety concerns. His research has analyzed... Read More →

Tanya Coutray

Worldwide Principal Data & AI Strategist, Amazon

Tanya Coutray is the Worldwide Principal Data & AI Strategist for Retail & CPG at Amazon Web Services. With over 20 years of leadership experience in digital transformation, data management, and advanced analytics, including key roles at Amazon and Walmart, she empowers organizations... Read More →

Tuesday February 18, 2025 11:30am - 12:20pm EST
Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Breakout

2:10pm EST

Breakout 17: Belonging Roundtable: Accessibility in Product Safety

Tuesday February 18, 2025 2:10pm - 3:00pm EST

Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

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.

Moderators

Courtney Griffin

Director of Consumer Product Safety, Consumer Federation of America

Courtney Griffin is the Director of Consumer Product Safety for the Consumer Federation of America. She advocates for consumer product safety in Congress and at regulatory agencies, communicates policy positions to the public and press, provides educational tools for consumers... Read More →

Speakers

Nancy Cowles

Consumer Advocate, N/A

Nancy Cowles served for 23 years as executive director of Kids In Danger (KID), an organization dedicated to protecting children by fighting for children’s product safety. KID’s mission was to save lives by enhancing transparency and accountability through safer product development... Read More →

Cleo Stamatos

Consumer and Legislative Outreach Manager, ANSI

Cleo Manuel Stamatos is aconsumer and legislative outreach manager at the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). She has more than 25 years of experience working in consumer outreach, public affairs, and legislative activities. Prior to joining ANSI in 2021, Stamatos was a... Read More →

Wei Wei

Product Safety Manager, Google LLC

Mr. Wei Wei has spent more than 20 years in the consumer electronics industry, with extensive experience in product failure investigations, risk assessment and management. He was trained in semiconductor physics and electrical engineering, which helped him navigate complex system... Read More →

Tuesday February 18, 2025 2:10pm - 3:00pm EST
Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Breakout

7:30am EST

Sponsored Satellite Session 11: Eurofins' Deforestation Impact Assessment: A Comprehensive Tool for EU DR Compliance

Wednesday February 19, 2025 7:30am - 7:50am EST

Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Wednesday February 19, 2025 7:30am - 7:50am EST
Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Satellite Sessions

11:35am EST

Breakout 23: Standardization and Product Safety in China, EU, and USA

Wednesday February 19, 2025 11:35am - 12:25pm EST

Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

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.

Moderators

Amy Chen

Regulatory Compliance Consultant, Compliance & Risks

Amy Chen works as a Regulatory Compliance Consultant in Compliance & Risks, specialising in product safety and related regulations globally for over 15 years. The topics covered include REACH, RoHS, WEEE, energy labelling, energy efficiency, packaging, product safety, EMC, climate... Read More →

Speakers

Rodney Thu

Director, Quality Assurance, Hasbro, Inc.

Rodney Thu is the Director of Quality Assurance at Hasbro, where he has worked for 12 years. He leads the Commodity, Regulatory & Internal Policy and Laboratory (CRPL) team within Hasbro’s Quality Assurance department. His team is responsible for ensuring the quality of high-risk... Read More →

Molly Lynyak

Manager, Technical Committee Operations, ASTM International

Molly Lynyak is a manager in the Technical Committee Operations Division of ASTM International, one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world.In her role, Lynyak has direct responsibility for the standards development activities within Committee F15... Read More →

Wednesday February 19, 2025 11:35am - 12:25pm EST
Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Breakout

2:10pm EST

Breakout 31: Can AI in Products Be Safe?

Wednesday February 19, 2025 2:10pm - 3:00pm EST

Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

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.

Moderators

Travis Norton

Head of Content Strategy and Compliance Innovation, Compliance & Risks

Travis Norton is the Head of Content Strategy and Compliance Innovation at Compliance & Risks. Travis has worked in the consumer products industry for more than 30 years. He has been involved with service development and technical consultation for the certification and testing of... Read More →

Speakers

Stephan Pesch

Intl Regulatory Compliance Specialist Senior, TUV Rheinland

Stephan Pesch is the International Regulatory Compliance Specialist for Hardlines Products at TUV Rheinland of North America, Inc. More than 20 years ago he started at TUV Rheinland in Guangzhou, China to set up labs for consumer product testing and to develop internal test standards... Read More →

Karin Athanas

Executive Director, Alliance for Family and Consumer Sciences, (AAFCS)

Manny Dekermenjian

Product Safety Manager, Google

Manny Dekermenjian is a product safety manager at Google focused on IoT connected products. He has experience investigating fires, product defects, engineering disasters, and incidents resulting in injuries or fatalities. He has worked on safety issues in various industries, applying... Read More →

Wednesday February 19, 2025 2:10pm - 3:00pm EST
Palm A-F (Ballroom Level)

Breakout