FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Kim R. Todora, PPAI
972.258.3063
kimt@ppai.org
Carol Pollack-Nelson, Ph.D.
PPAI Product Safety Summit To Feature Carol Pollack-Nelson, Ph.D.
Renowned Product Safety Authority
Dr. Carol Pollack-Nelson, Human Factors Psychologist And Former Senior Engineering Psychologist
At The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Is Featured Speaker At Second Annual
Product Safety Summit, Omni Royal Orleans Hotel, August 14-15, 2012
IRVING, Tex., (May 15, 2012) – Promotional Products Association International (PPAI;
ppai.org), the not-for-profit association for more than 10,500 members of the $17.7
billion promotional products industry, is pleased to present renowned product safety
authority, Dr. Carol Pollack-Nelson as a featured speaker at its second annual Product
Safety Summit in New Orleans, Louisiana, August 14-15, 2012, at the Omni Royal
Orleans Hotel.
During program sessions and panels, human factors psychologist and former Senior
Engineering Psychologist at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC),
Dr. Carol Pollack-Nelson will discuss how to identify hazards in product designs and
how to determine if a product is a children’s product, both integral steps in determining
compliance standards that may apply to products.
“Attending the Product Safety Summit provides industry leaders an opportunity to get
powerful insights into the key product safety challenges and solutions germane to the
promotional products industry supply chain,” said Anne Lardner-Stone, PPAI director of
public affairs. “This being our second summit, we’ve only just begun the process of
addressing standards, best practices and tools that will ensure this mission-critical
responsibility is met by the entire industry now and in years to come.”
Carol Pollack-Nelson is a human factors psychologist, having worked in the field of
consumer safety since 1982. From 1988 through 1993, Dr. Pollack-Nelson served as a
Senior Engineering Psychologist at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC).
-more-
Since that time, she has worked independently as a human factors consultant and
researcher in the field of consumer product safety.
Dr. Pollack-Nelson provides independent technical consultation to manufacturers, test
laboratories, consumer organizations and products liability attorneys in the areas of
product design and hazard identification, age grading, and warning label and instruction
manual design. She has evaluated hundreds of products for children, and adults.
“I am honored to participate in this very important dialog on product safety and
commend the promotional products industry for meeting this challenge head on, said
Human Factors Psychologist, Dr. Carol Pollack-Nelson. “I am optimistic that PPAI and
its members will have a meaningful impact on the development of best practices for the
industry and will play an important role in the education and dissemination of
promotional product safety knowledge and standards to suppliers, distributors and
ultimately buyers to promote the safe use and design of products for consumers of all
ages.”
The PPAI Product Safety Summit, chaired once again by Gene Geiger, MAS, with
Geiger and Rick Brenner, MAS, with Prime Resources Corporation, brings together
government officials, legal experts and industry professionals for a one-and-half day
educational forum on the most-pressing product safety issues, their business
implications and the challenges associated with compliance. The Summit also examines
how to turn the cost-burden of product safety into a strategic advantage.
The PSS is held in conjunction with the PPAI North American Leadership Conference,
August 12-14. The Summit will feature two full days of professional networking,
roundtable discussion and education sessions. Registration for the conference is now
open and details are available here.
About PPAI
Since 1903, the Promotional Products Association International, a not-for-profit, has
been the standard-setting international trade association for the promotional products
industry. Today, PPAI serves more than 10,500 member companies and 450,000
industry professionals who lead the $17.7 billion industry. The multi-billion-dollar
industry includes wearables, writing instruments, calendars, drinkware and many other
items, usually imprinted with a company’s name, logo or message. PPAI offers
education, tradeshows, business products and services, mentoring, technology and
legislative support to its members. PPAI created and maintains the UPIC (Universal
Promotional Identification Code), the industry’s only free identification system and
universal company database. For information regarding PPAI or to learn more about the
proven power of promotional products (including research and case studies), visit the
PPAI website at www.ppai.org.
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Carol Pollack-Nelson, Ph.D.
Human Factors Psychologist
Independent Technical Consultant –
Consumer Product Safety
Carol Pollack-Nelson is a human factors psychologist, having worked in the field
of consumer safety since 1982. From 1988 through 1993, Dr. Pollack-Nelson
served as a Senior Engineering Psychologist at the U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission (CPSC). Since that time, she has worked independently as a
human factors consultant and researcher in the field of consumer product safety.
Dr. Pollack-Nelson provides independent technical consultation to manufacturers,
test laboratories, consumer organizations and products liability attorneys in the
areas of product design and hazard identification, age grading, and warning label
and instruction manual design. She has evaluated hundreds of products for
children (toys, toy premiums, furniture & nursery products), and adults
(recreational equipment, household appliances, tools, over-the-counter
medicines, healthcare products). Additionally, she develops and delivers
corporate training courses on how to identify hazards in product designs and the
development of warnings and instructions.
Each year, Dr. Pollack-Nelson conducts independent research on consumer
safety issues and publishes the findings in peer-review journals. Recent
publications address topics such as: drowning in portable pools, strangulation
risk in the side of bunk beds, the limitations of voluntary safety standards,
supervision practices of parents with young children, the utility of warning labels
for a fall restraint device, parental perceptions of the juvenile fire-setting risk,
nursery product injuries & fatalities. She also serves as a reviewer for the Human
Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Proceedings, Injury Control and Safety
Promotion, Pediatrics, and the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.
Dr. Pollack-Nelson works arduously on the development of voluntary standards.
She is an officer on the Executive Committee of ASTM (F15 Consumer Products)
and is a member of numerous subcommittees including kerosene heaters,
children’s toys, and bunk beds. She served on an oversight committee for the
ANSI standard for window blind coverings. Additionally, in the last five years, Dr.
Pollack-Nelson has worked to cause changes to mandatory and voluntary
standards for a variety of products including lighters, bunk beds, hunting tree
stands, and gas fireplaces that have been responsible for thousands of consumer
injuries and fatalities.
In addition to serving as an officer of ASTM’s F15 Executive Committee, Dr.
Pollack-Nelson is the President-Elect of the Board of Directors for the
International Consumer Product Health & Safety Organization (ICPHSO). She
serves on the Consumer Advisory Committee for Underwriter’s Laboratories, and
is on the Advisory Committee to the Kids in Danger TEST program. She is a
member of the American Psychological Association and the Human Factors and
Ergonomics Society. Dr. Pollack-Nelson is the 2011 recipient of the Human
Factors and Ergonomics Society’s A.R. Lauer Safety Award.