KID was hard at work last week travelling around the country to connect with partners and fight for product safety. Read below to hear what we’ve been working on:
On Monday, Carson Gaffney, KID Program Director, travelled to Springfield, Illinois to attend the 2018 Spring Into Action Conference hosted by Illinois Action for Children. The conference brings together early care and education providers, educators, and advocates from across Illinois to discuss the most pressing issues facing early childhood professionals. Carson participated in sessions on changes to expulsion policies in childcare, and an update on early childhood policy in IL.
On Wednesday, Nancy Cowles, KID ED, testified in Bethesda, MD at the US CPSC annual priorities hearing. This is an opportunity for organizations, businesses and individuals to give input into the CPSC’s priorities for FY 2019 and FY 2020. KID focused our comments on transparency, innovation and regulation; urging CPSC to improve use and function of SaferProducts.gov, use innovation to get more recalled products out of homes and encourage better sharing of data with the public among other things. Also testifying were Lisa Siefert and Janet McGee, whose sons Shane and Ted were killed by unstable clothing storage units. Part one and part two of the hearing are available on CPSC’s webpage, and KID’s comments are here.
On Thursday, KID Board member Kyran Quinlan traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan to the Michigan Engineering Design Expo. KID’s team of Austin Benoit, Nathan Woznick and Lucas Barns (pictured below with Dr. Quinlan) designed a prototype of a new test fixture for mattress softness – a factor in both suffocation and SUID deaths. The students were able to research the issue, design and 3D print a prototype, and test on mattress samples.
On Friday, Nancy was back in DC for an ASTM-ICPHSO Roundtable on age grading guidelines from the CPSC and how they can help companies and consumers keep their children safe. New research was shared that explored how parents shop for toys and how they use age guidelines on packages or toys. KID presented on a panel looking at what manufacturers of general products can learn from age grading to keep children safe.
In the next couple of weeks, we are looking forward to marking KID’s 20th anniversary at our 2018 Best Friend Award Night. Follow KID on Facebook and Twitter and sign up for our email alerts to stay up-to-date on our upcoming activities!
