Joan Lawrence serves as the Toy Association’s Senior Vice President of Standards and Regulatory Affairs. Over her 30 years with the Association, she has managed product safety programs encompassing the development and harmonization of safety standards, as well as industry and consumer safety education, to ensure safe and fun toys and play. Ms. Lawrence also serves as chair of the expert Subcommittee on Toy Safety under ASTM International, which brings together industry, government, medical and child development experts, testing engineers, and consumer representatives – and is responsible for overseeing the ASTM F963 toy safety standard, required of all toys sold in the U.S. Under her leadership, the committee and the toy standard have been recognized by the U.S. Congress, Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and others, as setting a “gold standard” for children’s product safety.
With an ever increasingly global industry, Ms. Lawrence advocates for international harmonization of standards in order to facilitate toy manufacturers in their work to produce safe and fun toys – and to ensure consistent protection of children around the world. In this effort, her work includes chairing the U.S. technical advisory group to the ISO international toy safety standard, as well as outreach to domestic and foreign governments urging alignment of toy standards.
She has served as board member and president of the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO), an organization that brings together both governmental and non-governmental consumer product safety professionals. As a recognized expert in toy safety, Ms. Lawrence is a requested speaker in the U.S. and internationally. Dubbed “The Toy Safety Mom,” her expertise and advice on toy safety and standards appear regularly in both social and traditional media around the globe she is featured on the consumer-facing website
www.PlaySafe.org.
In addition to product safety and quality, her experience and leadership on behalf of the industry has spanned a broad range of social responsibility initiatives over the years – from environmental programs to safe and fair workplace conditions. Ms. Lawrence has been awarded the prestigious “Wonder Woman” Award for Social Responsibility by the organization Women in Toys (WIT), in recognition of her industry leadership on toy safety; and the Margaret Dana Award by ASTM International for her “commitment to the protection of children and the safety of play,” as well the Ross Koeser Achievement Award from ICPHSO.
