The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is responsible for protecting consumers from risks of serious injury or death by providing information related to thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, is a regulatory agency created in 1972 by the U.S. Congress in its Consumer Product Safety Act. CPSC's function under that law is to "protect the public against unreasonable risks of injuries and deaths associated with consumer products."
About 15,000 types of consumer products, mainly for household use, fall under its jurisdiction. There are many ways CPSC works to reduce the risk of injuries and deaths from consumer products. Working with manufacturers, it continues to develop voluntary standards within the industry thereby putting pressure on others to comply and make their products safer for users.
In addition to working on voluntary standards, CPSC also issues and enforces mandatory standards, going so far as to ban products that do not meet these stringent standards. To that end CPSC continues to conduct research on potential product hazards, and is instrumental in obtaining recalls and and arranging for repairs.
While this work goes on, CPSC continues to inform and educate consumers through different outlets such as the media and different organizations. It also invites input from the public and provides information.
To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC's Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270. To join a CPSC e-mail subscription list, please go to https://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx. To obtain recall and general safety information go to CPSC's Web site at www.cpsc.gov.
