Navigating child product safety: Perspectives from experts on international challenges and priorities in regulation and research

Objective: To elicit and summarise collective expert opinion on contemporary child product safety risks, challenges and priorities. 

Methods: An online survey targeted international experts from a cross-section of product safety fields. 

Results: Fifty-five experts participated, representing 1,137 years of product safety experience, from a broad range of fields including industry risk management, product assessment and testing, policy and regulation, research, paediatric medicine, advocacy and product liability. Participants identified the leading product safety hazards across all age brackets as falls, drowning and chemical hazards, with variance in specific age brackets, particularly the threat to breathing hazards for infants. The leading products of concern to experts were electrical connection/distribution products, primarily button batteries and lithium-ion batteries, infant furnishing products and household furniture. Product safety priorities and challenges were identified under five themes: regulatory, surveillance, industry, consumer and product-specific. 

Conclusions: The gains in knowledge, insight and understanding from experts on contemporary child product safety risks and issues should inform policy and future research. 

Implications for Public Health: There are significant consequences of unsafe consumer products on population health, and the results are timely as we face new product safety issues emerging from e-commerce, the digital transition and innovative product technologies.