June 2023 Newsletter
Certification Program Closing Workshop
The closing workshop of the 2023 Consumer Product Safety Professional Certification program takes place June 6 and 7 at Virginia Tech’s Research Center in Arlington, VA. The assessment portion of the agenda consists of a multiple-choice examination, an individual essay, a written case study on a product safety topic, and an oral presentation with a Case Study Review Panel. The Consumer Product Safety Certification Services Board, who oversees the policies and procedures for the program, will gather all of the case study review data and test scores from class members and sanction the final results. Every participant who completes the academic program at Virginia Tech will receive a Certification of Completion. In addition, those who successfully pass each individual assessment portion of the program will earn their Certified Product Safety Professional™ designation (CPSP).
Product Safety Leadership Fundamentals
The 2023 Fundamentals program will begin June 20 and will be an entirely remote program in partnership with the University of Michigan’s Center for Occupational Health Safety Engineering. This program is designed for new product safety professionals, as well as professionals with more experience who are seeking a refresher course on best practices.
The program agenda includes the following instructors and their lecture subjects (partial listing): The program instructors include Don Moffett, Product Integrity Consulting Services, Risk Assessment; Jared Frantz, Applied Safety and Ergonomics, Human Factors, Developing a Case Study; Matt Reed, Ph.D. University of Michigan, Transportation Research Institute in the College of Engineering, Using Human Subject Data for Safety Design; Nancy M. McClellan, M.P.H. CIH, CHMN, Occupational Health Management, PLLC, Corporate Safety Ethics and Culture, Rose Figueroa, Principal Consultant, Applied Safety & Ergonomics, Human Factors; Brandon Mueller, Husch Blackwell, Product Investigations; John Kuppens, Nelson Mullins, CPSC Regulatory Requirements; Patty Edwards, U.S. CPSC Standards Manager – Retired, Product Safety Standards and Certifications; Michael del Negro, Vice President, Head of Safety, Ethics and Compliance, Peloton Interactive, Product Recall Management; and Alan Abrahams, Ph.D. Virginia Tech, Business Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence.
Registration closes June 15. For more information and registration, review the course description at this link.
Product Safety Leadership: Crisis Management Conference
The 2023 Crisis Management program will open for registration in early June. The program will be held during the week of November 6, and take place on the campus of the University of Missouri at St. Louis, and the balance of the program on our Zoom platform. The program will consist of a variety of case studies around the topics of creating a crisis management plan; managing product safety investigations during a crisis; supply chain risk assessment and management; as well as industry and retail approaches to crisis management. A group of national and internationally recognized product safety professionals will constitute the instructor panel. The program is being sponsored by the University of Missouri St. Louis School of Business Administration. Watch for registration information in upcoming SPSP Newsletters and the weekly ADK Product Safety Network News.
ICPHSO Regional Workshop
The International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization will be holding their annual, one-day 2023 North America Product Safety Training Workshop on June 27, 2023, at Wayfair’s corporate offices in Boston, MA. The agenda for the event includes a focus on the use of technology to enhance product safety, as well as discussions on the latest product requirements presented by global and state regulators. There will also be pre- and post- workshop receptions along with networking breaks giving plenty of opportunities to meet product safety experts. Please visit ICPHSO 2023 Workshop to see more information about the Workshop.
Upcoming Webinars
On June 20, the 2023 webinar series will continue with a timely update on changes to EU product safety and liability laws, including the EU’s proposed new General Product Safety Regulation, reforms to its Product Liability Directive and the new EU class action mechanisms. Speakers are lawyers from the Cooley (UK) law firm.
There will be no webinars in July and August but they will resume in September. Topics being considered are a discussion of changes to the ANSI standards dealing with warnings and instructions, efforts to make recalls more effective, and the new Kids in Danger Design Safety Toolkit.
Product Safety and Regulatory Compliance Articles
In Compliance magazine publishes quarterly articles written by SPSP Board member, Ken Ross. These articles deal with CPSC reporting, product liability and product safety, standards compliance, and other issues in product safety. All thirty of Ken’s articles can be accessed at https://incompliancemag.com/author/kennethross/.