Summary of Experience

Stuart M. Statler served for seven years as Commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission [CPSC], the federal regulatory panel having exclusive jurisdiction over thousands of consumer products used in and around the home and in recreation. He was appointed by the President, was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate, and also served as acting-Chairman of the agency, and as Vice-Chair, for extended periods.

Mr. Statler's responsibilities centered on protecting American citizens from unreasonable risks of injury and other product risks. On a daily basis, his attention was wholly focused on issues of product safety and injury prevention. As Commissioner, he steered efforts related to design safety, product recalls and effective product warnings. He worked closely with affected companies and entire industries to make recalls of faulty products, and the warnings associated with them, both targeted and efficacious. He frequently guided staff efforts on recalls and other remedial relief aimed at correcting a design or production flaw, so as to prevent the recurrence of serious injury. He also assisted in devising appropriate on-product warnings and instructional guides to reduce the likelihood of injury.

Both while Commissioner and since - in public meetings, private sessions with affected companies and industries, and in various articles - Mr. Statler has emphasized the critical safety responsibilities of suppliers of consumer products. As a consultant and safety expert during all the years since, he has stressed the importance of companies actively investigating instances of injury occurring from their products. He has repeatedly cited the pressing need on their part, as a first principle, to focus upon improving a product's safety through changes to its design. He has also urged firms to fully assess a product's risks before bringing it onto market, to maintain adequate records of hazard investigations, to promptly alert the public about safety risks, and to timely report them to the CPSC.

Previously, Mr. Statler served as Special Assistant to the Chairman of the precursor National Commission on Product Safety [NCPS], which conducted a comprehensive, two-year product safety investigation [1968-70]. The panel recommended to Congress and the President a broad-based statutory scheme to maximize protection of Americans against unreasonable product risks. It identified a series of hazards which warranted action by manufacturers, importers and retailers, and by industry at large. While supervising staff investigations into specific hazards, Mr. Statler also helped to devise a regulatory plan for ensuring appropriate enforcement action by the federal government where industry efforts prove unsatisfactory. He also served as editor-in-chief of the NCPS Final Report, and drafted the Child Protection Act and the basic outline of the Consumer Product Safety Act itself. Subsequently, he served as a principal staff member of one of two U.S. Senate committees responsible for recommending approval of that landmark product safety legislation to the full Senate, and its enactment.

Upon completing his CPSC term, Mr. Statler served as VP and partner with global management consultants A.T. Kearney [1986-89], heading up the firm's risk management and product liability practice. He advised companies, and their law firms, how best to anticipate and avoid health, safety and environmental risks. He regularly shared his analysis on managing those risks so as to limit downstream damage and costs. And he counseled companies -primarily manufacturers and suppliers- as to their potential liability and how best to avoid costly litigation, by factoring safe product design and responsible manufacturing practices into every facet of developing and marketing their products. Mr. Statler has continued consulting in the areas of product safety and regulatory analysis, products liability, risk management and avoidance, product warnings and recalls, and corporate responsibility ever since, for 20+ years. He has been involved in more than 350 consulting assignments.