Share this on

Industry experts tapped for toy safety oversight council

By Staff -- Gifts and Dec, 5/12/2009 8:13:00 AM

NEW YORK—The Toy Industry Association has created an oversight council stocked with industry experts as part of its efforts to verify that toys entering the U.S. comply with all relevant safety standards and regulations.

The Oversight Council will be responsible for a variety of tasks, including monitoring the development, implementation and effectiveness of TIA’s Toy Safety Certification Program; proposing changes to the program to increase value to stakeholders; and reviewing and adopting reasonable recommended changes in the program relating to technical considerations. Its members will provide guidance as the program adapts to changes in the marketplace.

“This Council is unique because it brings together stakeholders with a broad range of skills and perspectives and a shared passion for enhancing toy safety,” said Elizabeth Borrelli, executive director of TIA’s Toy Safety Certification Program (TSCPSM). “We are honored that a former CPSC commissioner, a former president of UL, and a cross-section of well-respected product safety experts, engineers, and government and consumers representatives will be helping to shape the development, implementation, integrity and effectiveness of the TSCP.”

Members of the first TSCP Oversight Council include:
• Tom Castino, former president and CEO of Underwriters Laboratories;
• Anne Craigmyle, current member of the American Fireworks Standard Laboratory (AFSL) Standards Committee;
• Carol Dawson, former commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission;
• Gordon Gillerman, conformity assessment advisor at the National Institute of Standards and Technology;
• Myung Kang-Huneke, vice president and general counsel for Sesame Workshop and oversee of its Product Safety Assurance Program;
• Alan Kaufman, vice president of quality assurance, safety, and compliance for Toys “R” Us Inc.;
• Arthur Kazianis, senior vice president of global quality assurance at Hasbro;
• Kathleen McHugh, president of the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association;
• Arnie Rubin, president and CEO of toymaker Funrise Toy and former TIA chairman;
• Beth Schommer, vice president of product safety and compliance for Wal-Mart;
• and Jim Walter, senior vice president and chief regulatory officer, global product integrity, for Mattel.

The TSCP was developed in response to the toy recalls of 2007 and their resulting congressional hearings, political platforms, media coverage and overall consumer concerns. TIA stepped forward “to take a proactive stance in developing and promoting a program that would apply to toys that are produced for sale in the United States.”

The initiative was organized by TIA in partnership with the American National Standards Institute, coordinator of the U.S. voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment system.

Additional information about the Toy Safety Certification ProgramSM (TSCPSM) can be found online at www.toycertification.org.

Share this on

Talkback

We would love your feedback!

TIA heads at APEC toy safety summit

Jul 28, 2009

Safe, Safer, Safest ... .. And Even More Safe

Feb 25, 2012

Cadaco vet joins TIA's safety effort

Mar 18, 2009

Up Close: Manufacturers' Forecast 2009

Feb 3, 2009

Up Close: TIA's Carter Keithley on industry's toy safety efforts

Oct 14, 2009

Also by this author

»MORE

Featured Company

Wright Labels

Bill and Tom Wright founded Wright of Thomasville in 1961 on the idea that printing was a creative medium and the belief that "a promise made is a promise kept." The Wright brothers focused their attention on providing exceptional printing for the... more