CPSC and Corporate Leaders Forge Creative Partnership To Save Lives: Safety Sells Conference

On March 28, 1995, the Consumer Product Safety Commission brought together corporate leaders and senior business executives from across the country at a unique conference, whose theme was "safety sells." The Commission's aim was to forge a new, creative partnership between CPSC and industry. The conference marked the first time CPSC had brought senior industry officials together to talk about business profitability and product safety as mutual objectives. Since then, the Commission has developed partnering relationships with several business organizations that further the goals of product safety.

The conference featured talks by top executives from eight major consumer product companies, including Procter & Gamble, Toys "R" Us, Rollerblade, and Whirlpool. Each speaker presented a case study of an approach to safety in his company, demonstrating not only that product safety is an emerging business trend, but, in fact, that safety sells.

The speakers emphasized their companies' commitment to safety and the competitive advantages of their safety innovations. They provided working examples of how companies have improved their competitive position by "selling" safety and highlighted the various ways companies have successfully incorporated product safety into their business and marketing. Their presentations demonstrated an extraordinary range of innovative approaches to making and selling safer products.

CPSC Chairman Ann Brown underscored the Commission's interest in maintaining the creative partnership reflected by the "Safety Sells" conference. She urged industry to continue the dialogue with government on the best ways to achieve the goal of making products that are both safe and profitable.

The "Safety Sells" conference, attended by nearly 200 representatives of industry, trade associations, standards-setting organizations, the legal community, academia, non-profit and governmental organizations, was so well received by the business audience that CPSC plans to hold similar gatherings in the future.

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