WASHINGTON — After an unprecedented year of toy recalls, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is adding staff at the nation's busiest ports and pledging to work more closely with U.S. Customs to stop suspect imports and identify potential hazards before toys hit the market.
Addressing the National Press Club on Monday, acting commission chief Nancy Nord vigorously defended her safety record but said she stood ready to embrace major reform at the embattled agency.
Congress provided the agency with an additional $20 million for the current fiscal year but has stalled on legislation that would significantly strengthen its regulatory powers.
Under the new initiatives, the agency will begin to place full-time staff at some of the nation's busiest ports, such as Seattle. It also will get access to real-time information and data from Customs officials about shipments bound for the U.S. so agency staff can help pinpoint high-risk products.
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The commission also plans to boost port inspection of toys, fireworks, electrical products and other goods considered potentially high-risk and will conduct a study of specific imports to help determine safety compliance.
"Toys are safer," said Nord, contending that for every time there may be a safety problem, there are hundreds of inspections done right. "The increase in recalls indicates more effective enforcement on a broader range of product attributes; they do not indicate there are more dangerous products on store shelves than in previous years."
Still, she added, "Change is inevitable, and that's where my focus will be in 2008."
Nord also said she is seeking to bolster the agency's "early warning" detection system for children's products such as cribs, bassinets and play yards. The goal is to foster better agency communication and collaboration, as well as to "connect the dots" among safety complaints, allowing the agency to detect patterns in potential hazards as they emerge.
Nord's announcement comes after a year of harsh criticism, from Congress and consumer groups, of enforcement following a record number of recalls.
The agency's staff has dropped from almost 800 employees in 1974 to an all-time low of about 400 now. Nord also has been criticized for accepting at least three free trips, worth thousands of dollars, from industry, purportedly to share information about agency priorities and discuss toy safety.