Need Product Safety Help?

If you have imported anything lately, you likely worried most about supply chain delays. But if you thought the Consumer Product Safety Commission was on duty to help by inspecting product once it did arrive at the ports, now you have something else to worry about.

In a blockbuster investigative report from USA Today, it’s revealed that the federal safety inspectors who protect consumers by making the usual security checks for lead, chemicals, choking hazards and the like were not standing guard for nearly six months.

The CPSC has only now discovered widely ranging hazards among toys and other products already for sale after it secretly stopped routine inspections of imports during the pandemic. The Consumer Product Safety Commission still has not answered basic questions from lawmakers about the risks to consumers from its decision to send its port inspectors home for nearly six months, a safety lapse first exposed by USA TODAY months ago.

In a new report to Congress, the agency failed to disclose what it plans to do about dangerous products now on the market. Many concerns come from just a pair of spot checks to assess the potential harm. There are troubling issues with the paperwork of 40 percent of the 56 companies the CPSC deemed the highest risk for having imported unsafe products during the port inspection shutdown. The agency said it followed up with inspections and now is acting on “potential violations discovered.” The agency offered no details on exactly what that means.

In an effort to play catchup after the USA Today report was released, the CPSC also scouted online for the types of products that port inspectors commonly cite for safety violations, like children’s toys that can contain poisonous levels of lead. Out of 75 products tested, nearly half failed to pass safety standards. The commission said it was taking enforcement action, again without providing details.

The agency declined to answer questions from USA TODAY about the report, which did not specify whether the products found online had entered through ports when inspectors were away. The 25-page report exposes other gaps in the policing of dangerous imports. The commission acknowledged it routinely screens only “a tiny fraction” of products entering the country and maintains minimal presence at major entry points for small and direct-to-consumer online purchases. “It fails to answer Congress’ central question: What got through and where it went,” Commissioner Peter Feldman told USA TODAY. “I question whether or not we’ve done our jobs here, and I fear the consumer may still be at risk.”

To be fair, the CPSC has always battled uphill because it has been underfunded. Hopefully, the USA Today investigation and the agency report on what happened will spur Congress to even more action than the $50 million increase it passed in April. That spending plan increased the number of ports at which the agency has inspectors from 18 to 22. The agency plans to add 55 positions ranging from support staff to screeners of incoming online purchases. The fact is that upon a complete reading of the CPSC response, it’s hard to tell exactly how the commission plans to improve port operations, or who is accountable. The report has no named author and its title page includes a disclaimer that it does not necessarily reflect the views of commissioners.

So what does this mean to you? Well, hopefully you have worked with your suppliers the way we have suggested several times before here- trust, but verify. Now, that’s true more than ever. If you haven’t, the horse may well already be out of the barn.