From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: How the Consumer Product Safety Commission Protects Consumers from Hazards And How It Can Improve Description: The Consumer Product Safety Commission is a small agency of about 500 full-time employees tasked with protecting U.S. shoppers from product hazards that could cause injury or even death. We talk with GAO's Alicia Puente Cackley--an expert on consumer protection issues and a director in our Financial Markets and Community Investment Team--about a new report on how CPSC protects consumers and the challenges it faces. Related GAO Work: GAO-21-56, Consumer Product Safety Commission: Actions Needed to Improve Processes for Addressing Product Defect Cases Released: November 2020 [Intro Music] [Alicia Puente Cackley:] CPSA is a small agency with a big job to do. And as a result, it needs to prioritize and focus its resources wisely. [Holly Hobbs:] Hi and welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office-- I'm Holly Hobbs. Gift-giving season is rapidly approaching and maybe you've already started shopping. But who checks to make sure the kids' toys and the families' new TV meet safety standards? Today, we talk with Alicia Puente Cackley--an expert on consumer protection issues and a director in GAO's Financial Markets and Community Investment Team. Alicia has a new report out on the Consumer Product Safety Commission--an agency of about 500 full-time employees that is charged with protecting U.S. shoppers from injury and death by regulating thousands of types of consumer products. Thank you for joining us Alicia! [Alicia Puente Cackley:] You're very welcome! [Holly Hobbs:] So, Alicia, given the Consumer Product Safety Commission's size compared to the number of products out there--how does it monitor products' safety hazards? [Alicia Puente Cackley:] So, the CPSC has a variety of methods for monitoring products safety hazards. And those include things like inspecting imports at the ports, monitoring hospital injury data, the SaferProducts.gov website where people can report defective products. But it also has a limited set of staff resources. So, it's really important for CPSC to prioritize and make sure it's focusing on the specific cases that pose the greatest risk to consumers. So, that's products that could cause serious injury or death. And in our report, we found that CPSC doesn't always follow a formal process for prioritizing cases based on the potential risk to consumer safety. And so, it might miss opportunities to devote greater resources to the cases that pose the greatest risk to consumers. [Holly Hobbs:] And how does the CPSC deal with the product safety hazards? [Alicia Puente Cackley:] So, there is a number of corrective actions that CPSC can take when a hazard has been identified. Those are typically remedies that CPSC and the manufacturer of the product have agreed to. So, for example, if a bicycle or a baby stroller had a faulty part, CPSC and the manufacturer might agree to repair or replace that part for the people who have purchased that product. And, in other cases, CPSC and the manufacturer may agree to offer consumers a refund if they turn in the defective product. And then, on rare occasions, CPSC could actually take enforcement action. So that could be civil or criminal penalties. So, for example, retailers are required to report to CPSC when they identify a serious safety hazard with a product. And, if they fail to do that, it can result in a civil penalty, such as when CPSC found a major retailer had been continuing to sell a trash can with a sharp edge that would cause a consumer injuries. [Holly Hobbs:] And your report talks about recalls as being voluntary. Once CPSC and the manufacturers agree to recall a product, how does the commission ensure that the recall happens? [Alicia Puente Cackley:] CPSC conducts what they call recall effectiveness checks. And that's to make sure that the recall is being implemented properly. So, for example, the staff may check that retailers have removed recalled product from the shelves and placed appropriate signage in the stores for consumers to see. And, of course, the number of checks that are done would vary depending on the number of defective products that are in the marketplace and the level of risk to the consumer. What we found was that CPSC didn't have a consistent process for making those checks, and so we recommended that they develop one. And then, CPSC also requires companies to submit monthly reports about how their recall is going. But what we found was firms weren't submitting their monthly reports consistently; and so, we recommended that CPSC really tracks those submissions so they can better monitor really what the status of the product recall is. [Holly Hobbs:] So, even when firms are implementing the recalls they agreed to, how does CPSC know if the recalls are effective from a consumer perspective? [Alicia Puente Cackley:] That is difficult to get a full picture of, because CPSC just has one measure of recall effectiveness. So, for a particular recall, that means the number of product units that have been corrected out of a total number of product units that are being recalled. And, the problem is, for some products, you can have really low consumer participation in a particular recall. So, for example, if a manufacturer is offering to replace a product that has a very low dollar value, like a fast-food meal toy, consumers who --you know, they may hear about the recall--but they're not going to send in for a replacement, they're just going to toss the toy. And so, then, is the recall effective? It's effective in a sense that the product is out of the marketplace, but CPSC doesn't know--because nothing was turned in and there was no replacement--CPSC hasn't measured it as being effective correction. So, we recommended that CPSC look at other measures of effectiveness so that they get a better sense of true effectiveness depending on the type of recall they're looking at. [Holly Hobbs:] So, it sounds like the Consumer Product Safety Commission plays an important role in protecting consumers from defective or hazardous products, which could cause injury or even death. But that the Commission faces challenges--given its size--in monitoring all products and taking action quickly. Alicia, how can the consumer be proactive in reporting and checking for hazards? [Alicia Puente Cackley:] There's SaferProducts.gov, and that's a place where you can both go to check if a particular product has been reported as being unsafe or where you can report a product that you have found to be unsafe. [Holly Hobbs:]: And, Alicia, last question--what's the bottom line of this report? [Alicia Puente Cackley:] Our bottom line is that CPSC is a small agency with a big job to do. And as a result, it needs to prioritize and focus its resources wisely so that it can act quickly and effectively and address the most serious product hazards. [Holly Hobbs:] That was GAO's Alicia Puente Cackley talking about a new report on the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Thank you for your time, Alicia! [Alicia Puente Cackley:] You're very welcome. 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