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Consumer Product Safety Commission

1994 Annual Report to Congress

CPSC Document #114

Dear Members of Congress:

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is pleased to submit its report for 

Fiscal Year 1994.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is an independent federal agency that works to reduce 

unreasonable risks of injuries and deaths associated with the 15,000 types of consumer products 

under the agency's jurisdiction. As an injury prevention agency, CPSC researches product hazards, 

participates with industry in developing voluntary standards for products, issues and enforces 

mandatory standards, and informs the public of potential product hazards.

I am delighted to report to you CPSC's efforts at government reinvention and regulatory reform. 

CPSC should serve as a model for all government agencies. With a staff of less than 500 and the 

same budget it had in 1979, CPSC exemplifies streamlined, effective, and efficient government that 

works with industry and the public to achieve its mission to reduce deaths and injuries associated 

with consumer products. 

One of CPSC's greatest accomplishments has been in forging partnerships with industry and consumer 

groups to promote product safety. CPSC encourages industry to voluntarily improve the safety of 

its products in lieu of mandatory regulations. 

Manufacturers of window coverings voluntarily eliminated the loops in certain window blind cords, 

which were associated with the strangling death of about one young child a month. Now window 

blinds are manufactured with safety tassels or breakaway tassels that split open to prevent a 

strangulation. This effort will save children's lives without years of bureaucratic red tape.

Many manufacturers of children's clothes have voluntarily removed the hood and neck strings on 

children's sweatshirts and jackets or replaced the strings with buttons, snaps, and velcro. 

Children were strangled when these strings caught on playground equipment, cribs, escalators and 

other products. 

CPSC initiated several massive recalls that received substantial media coverage helping to assure 

public attention to product hazards. These recalls included crayons made with toxic levels of 

lead, dangerous tubular metal bunk beds, and flammable chiffon skirts that burned faster than 

newspaper. I am fortunate to be the first Commission Chairman to have the opportunity to appear 

regularly on "Good Morning America" and the first Chairman to write a monthly column for "Good 

Housekeeping Magazine." 

CPSC transformed the agency's outmoded telephone center into a cutting-edge interactive 

information system incorporating a 24-hour Hotline, Internet access, bilingual operators, and faxon-demand services. CPSC's new hotline, which gives consumers vital information on potentially 

dangerous products, received more than 266,000 calls in its first year of operation, an increase 

of 78 percent over the previous year. 

When I arrived at CPSC, I initiated the CPSC Chairman's Commendation for Significant Contributions 

to Product Safety, to promote product safety by individuals, companies, or groups in the private 

sector.

Recipients of the commendation for this year include: Procter & Gamble for introducing packaging 

that is easy for adults to open and child-resistant in advance of changes to the regulation; 

Playskool, a division of Hasbro Inc., for designing the 1-2-3 High Chair with a built-in safety 

restraint that will help save children's lives; and Sunbeam Plastics for developing adultfriendly, child-resistant packaging for a broad range of consumer products.

CPSC has accomplished a number of initiatives that have contributed to its success in regulatory 

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