Toy safety assurance program endorsed by TIA Directors
19th February 20081 Comment
Opportunity for Public Comment from February 24 to March 24, 2008
Business Wire reports that a meeting in conjunction with its annual Toy Fair in New York City, the Toy Industry Association’s (TIA) Board of Directors unanimously endorsed the general direction of a proposal for a new toy testing and safety verification system for toys sold in the U.S. market. Key elements of the program include procedures for design hazard analysis, auditing manufacturing process controls, and product safety testing.
The program will be published by ANSI on Friday, February 24, 2008, for a one-month period of public review and comment. Following the public comment period, a final program proposal will be presented to the TIA Board for final adoption and implementation. At that time, a timetable for putting the program in action will also be provided.
19th February 2008 at 12:34 pm
I am fascinated by the way manufacturers and retailers have (and have not) addressed the toy safety issue as a branding challenge. No amount of happy marketing communications or other fluff will overcome consumers’ basic concern and/or distrust on such an issue that affects the health of their families, will it? So, standards make a lot of sense, but how will these thresholds be reflected in the marketing coming from TIA members? I think the Toys “R” Us announcement last week was directionally intriguing; will it now make ’safety’ a central tenet of its brand? If so, it could be a real differentiator for the business. I’ve written about this at some length at DIM BULB if you’d like to check it out: http://dimbulb.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/02/toys-r-us-takes.html