 |
TIA and Toy Safety
By Tim Connolly
February 1, 2003
In
the Field
Rachel
Murray Meyer has been involved in toy safety for eighteen years,
working with large and small toy manufacturers primarily in the
U.S. and China. Her Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering
and experience on the factory floor have earned her a place as a
voting member of ASTM. She’s also served on TIA’s Safety
Standards Steering Committee, which helped create international
toy safety standards. Now working as a toy safety consultant, Meyer
is hands-on in helping manufacturers make safer toys.
“The
first step is to determine the appropriate age group that the toy
is intended for,” says Meyer. “Different age groups
require different tests and test severities, for example, the pounds
of force that are applied to a toy during testing.”
A toy
safety evaluation principally involves two types of data: anthropometric,
which takes into account a child’s physiology at a given age,
and incident data, which looks at accidents related to certain types
of toys. Both Meyer and Lawrence stress that for a safety test to
be valid, it has to take into account a toy’s intended use,
as well as how it might be misused. Once requirements are established,
tests are then used to determine compliance.
“Having
a two-and-a-half-year-old has proven to be yet another way of gaining
experience,” claims Meyer.
Overseas
Both
Meyer and Lawrence have participated in TIA’s safety seminars
in China. Started in 1996, the seminars have been “hugely
successful” according to Lawrence, with 2,100 attendees so
far. “We had to go to the source,” she said, referring
to China’s enormous toy export business. Sixty percent of
all U.S. toy imports are produced in China, according to TIA statistics.
The
seminars include one full day discussing fair treatment of workers,
including health, safety and wage issues. In 1995, TIA wrote the
industry code for toy industry workers' rights, which was subsequently
adopted by ICTI (International Council of Toy Industries) and, according
to Lawrence, is now the worldwide standard.
- Joan
Lawrence can be contacted at Joan@toy-tia.org, or by phone at
212-675-1141 ext. 204
- Rachel
Murray Meyer, at Toy Safety and Quality Assurance, can be contacted
at RachelMM@pacbell.net, or by phone at (415) 379-9161.
BACK
|
|
