ASP Product Safety and Safety in Design — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The 'hierarchy of controls' applied specifically to product safety design places which option as the most preferred method of hazard elimination?
- Designing out the hazard during the conceptual/design phase (inherently safer design) (Correct answer)
- Adding physical guards and barriers to the finished product
- Providing warnings and labels on the product packaging
- Training end-users on safe operation procedures
Correct answer: Designing out the hazard during the conceptual/design phase (inherently safer design)
Inherently safer design (designing out the hazard at the source) is the most preferred approach because it eliminates the hazard rather than mitigating it. The hierarchy for product safety mirrors the occupational hierarchy: elimination > engineering controls (guards) > warnings > instructions/training. Warnings and instructions are least effective because they depend on user behavior.
Question 2: Under U.S. product liability law, 'strict liability' in a tort claim means:
- A manufacturer can be held liable for injuries caused by a defective product even if they were not negligent (Correct answer)
- The injured party must prove the manufacturer knew about the defect and ignored it
- Liability is limited strictly to the purchase price of the product
- Only criminal penalties, not civil damages, can be awarded
Correct answer: A manufacturer can be held liable for injuries caused by a defective product even if they were not negligent
Under strict product liability (established in Restatement Second of Torts §402A), a manufacturer is liable for injuries caused by an unreasonably dangerous defective product regardless of whether they exercised due care. The plaintiff does not need to prove negligence—only that the product was defective and the defect caused harm.
Question 3: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has jurisdiction over which of the following?
- Children's toys sold in retail stores (Correct answer)
- Automobiles and motor vehicle equipment
- Pesticides and herbicides
- Food and drug products
Correct answer: Children's toys sold in retail stores
The CPSC regulates consumer products such as toys, household appliances, furniture, and recreational equipment. Motor vehicles fall under NHTSA, pesticides under EPA, and food/drugs under FDA. Understanding which agency has jurisdiction is critical for product safety professionals managing regulatory compliance.
Question 4: A 'failure mode and effects analysis' (FMEA) is conducted during product design primarily to:
- Identify potential failure modes, assess their severity and likelihood, and prioritize design improvements before production (Correct answer)
- Document failures that occurred after product release for legal defense purposes
- Train assembly line workers on quality inspection procedures
- Calculate warranty cost reserves for the finance department
Correct answer: Identify potential failure modes, assess their severity and likelihood, and prioritize design improvements before production
FMEA is a proactive design tool used to systematically identify how a product or process might fail, rate the severity, occurrence, and detectability of each failure (yielding a Risk Priority Number), and guide design changes before the product is manufactured. It embodies the principle of designing safety in rather than inspecting it in.
Question 5: Which type of product defect occurs when a product is correctly designed and manufactured but lacks adequate warnings about a known risk?
- Marketing defect (failure to warn) (Correct answer)
- Design defect
- Manufacturing defect
- Conformance defect
Correct answer: Marketing defect (failure to warn)
Product liability recognizes three defect categories: (1) Design defects — the design itself is unreasonably dangerous; (2) Manufacturing defects — an individual product deviates from its intended design; (3) Marketing defects (failure to warn) — the product lacks adequate instructions or warnings about known risks. All three can support a strict liability claim.
Question 6: The principle of 'design for disassembly' in product safety primarily addresses which life-cycle concern?
- Safe end-of-life disposal, recycling, and hazardous material recovery without worker injury (Correct answer)
- Making products easier to assemble on the production line
- Reducing the number of parts to lower manufacturing costs
- Enabling consumers to perform their own repairs safely
Correct answer: Safe end-of-life disposal, recycling, and hazardous material recovery without worker injury
Design for disassembly considers safety and environmental impacts at the end of a product's life—ensuring workers can safely dismantle it, recover hazardous materials (e.g., batteries, refrigerants, PCBs), and recycle components. This extends safety thinking across the entire product life cycle, a key concept in the ASP domain.
ASP Product Safety and Safety in Design
The 'hierarchy of controls' applied specifically to product safety design places which option as the most preferred method of hazard elimination?