GAO Says CPSC Needs Better Tracking of Product Info in Public Database
The Government Accountability Office has issued a report on the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s public database of consumer product safety incidents called SaferProducts.gov, which CPSC was required to establish by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). Among other things, GAO states that CPSC needs to improve the analytical methods it uses to identify product information in a report of harm.
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Database Has Been Controversial, Especially Lack of Specificity & Accuracy
This CPSIA public database has been controversial, especially the broad categories of people allowed to submit reports of harm, the lack of product specificity (such as model numbers) in certain submitted reports, overall accuracy, and the amount of time for businesses to respond.
In August 2011, H.R. 2715 (Public Law No: 112-28) revised the database requirements so that CPSC can now wait up to five more days before publishing a report of harm in the database to give it more time to (i) try to resolve an allegation of material inaccuracy and (ii) ask for (but still not require) a serial or model number if the submitter did not provide it.
Only 38% of Submitted Reports Were Complete and Ready for Publication
GAO’s analysis of CPSC data as of July 7, 2011, showed that 38% of the 5,464 reports submitted to CPSC contained the eight data elements that CPSC requires for publication (description of the product, incident, date of incident, identification of the manufacturer, etc.). This means that as of July 7, 2011, there were only 1,847 published reports. (Note that these reports can still be published if the missing elements are later provided by the submitter.)
61% of Submitters Are Either Victim or Relative of Victim
Although not required, GAO found that many submitters do appear to have firsthand knowledge of the product, as 37% of published reports stated that the submitter was also the victim and 24% stated that the victim was the child, spouse, parent, or other relative of the submitter.
Most Submitters Said Manufacturer Could Contact Them
GAO also found that most submitters provided their optional consent for CPSC to release their contact information to the manufacturer.
94% of Reports Published within 10 Days of CPSC Informing Manufacturer
GAO states that of the 1,085 published reports of harm to which companies responded, 94% were published within 10 business days after CPSC notified the company that the report had been submitted, meeting the 10 day publishing requirement laid out in CPSC’s December 2010 final rule. Even those reports for which a party submitted a claim of material inaccuracy largely met the 10 day publishing deadline.
(CPSC now has up to 5 additional business days to publish a report when a claim of materially inaccurate information is made or when a report does not contain a model number or serial number. Note that CPSC is not required to resolve the material inaccuracy before it publishes the report; however, if it determines there is a material inaccuracy before or after publication, it must fix the inaccuracy.)
CPSC Does not Sufficiently Track Model Numbers for Follow-up
In addition to these observations, GAO determined that CPSC does not sufficiently analyze its data to identify which reports do and do not contain model numbers or serial numbers which complicates its efforts to follow up with the submitter to try to obtain such information. GAO states that CPSC must strengthen its analytical methods to better identify model numbers or serial numbers in the reports of harm for this purpose.
CPSC reportedly agreed with GAO’s recommendation.
(See ITT’s Online Archives 11080230 for summary of H.R. 2715 which revised aspects of the public database requirements.
See ITT’s Online Archives 11080519 for summary stating many CPSC database entries lack model numbers and other observations of the public database.
See ITT’s Online Archives 10112933 and 10120917 for summaries of CPSC’s contentious vote to issue the database final rule and the December 2010 final rule.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 10120644, for summary of a letter from Representative Barton stating that the database rule overstepped Congressional intent.)