Unsafe levels of lead paint, spontaneous ignition, choking hazards, the date-rape drug GHB — all were found in toys this year. Stressed-out parents this holiday season have a heightened wariness of safety in the design and manufacture of toys.

When historians look at back on 2007, they could characterize it as the year that toy safety received the focus it has always deserved. Unfortunately, it has come at both the cost of consumer anxiety and a significant hit to brands of businesses and design and manufacturing processes.

This year, 61 toy brands have been recalled, an increase over the 40 toy brands recalled in 2006. When it comes to units of individual toys, in fiscal year 2007 (Oct. 1, 2006-Sept. 30, 2007), 25.6 million toys were recalled from stores, compared with 5 million in fiscal year 2006.

Undoubtedly, many parents are wondering how much hassle faces them as they sort through the 500+ brands from which to choose. A study by research firm Harrison Group found that 58 percent of Americans said they were making a “serious effort” to avoid products made in China, due to recent news stories. [Source: Chicago Sun-Times]

The good news is that only four brands accounted for 75 percent of all the products recalled, according to Forbes. And “just two of those four accounted for about 54 percent of the toys recalled for excess lead in their paint.”

Some of the unwanted worry and extra work of ensuring a child gets a safe toy could have been eliminated if it had been designed safely, according to China’s chief safety watchdog, Li Changjiang, who was quick to designate blame on “a design fault” rather than on the Chinese manufacturers or Chinese factories.

Indeed, when it comes to claims that China is to blame for all of the recent recalls putting the world’s children in danger — “That is simply not true,” Alan G. Hassenfeld, chairman and CEO of toymaker Hasbro, recently wrote in Forbes.

According to Hassenfeld:

Companies manufacture, import and sell products; countries do not. The Consumer Product Safety Commission rightly holds those who order the toys and bring them into the country responsible for the safety of those toys. Equally important is the fact that about 74 percent of the toys recalled were for design-related issues, not manufacturing-related ones. The designs are the primary responsibility of those who order the toys, not only of those who manufacture them. Let us take responsibility for our actions and not blame others.

Nevertheless, China has launched a campaign to keep dangerous goods from reaching store shelves worldwide.

Despite 25 million recalled toys this year, tens of millions of toys remain on store shelves, including a growing number of green toys. This holiday season, “parents must strike a precarious but not impossible balance, adjusting to the nation’s heightened awareness of toy safety and enjoying the season,” says The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Over the years, toy design has changed dramatically. We are well past the era in which “highly creative, individual inventors who came up with the ideas for toys, developed them and found ways to market them,” notes the Toy Industry Association (TIA), which explains:

Design and development [represent] the first stage in the toy safety process. In order to be safe, a toy must first be conceived and designed safe. Its concept must encompass not only what it is and what it does; but also who will play with it and how. These will dictate the age appropriateness standards to follow, in terms of product components (e.g. small parts) and skill levels required.

The TIA also envisions checking for safety throughout design to ensure the toy meets specifications. Moreover, the toy should be “use-tested … to uncover any unforeseen safety issues arising from the design. Once thoroughly checked against standards and prototype-tested in use, the design specifications go to the manufacturer.”

Such statements might well apply for all products including but not limited to toys.

Entrepreneurs today know they must get new products to market faster than ever before to succeed and gain as much market share as possible. With this intense pressure, managers are pressured to minimize time for testing and quickly mass-produce.

When businesses conduct only nominal testing, unsafe products may enter the market. To prevent unsafe products from reaching consumers, designers and manufacturers must work closely together — from the early phases of a concept through marketing and delivery to retail sites or customers’ homes.

With today’s rapid prototyping devices, for instance, there is little excuse for not creating a prototype to test. The declining cost and shorter times for making prototypes now eases this essential step of the design process.

As well, in-use testing can make or break a proposed product’s progress toward making it to marketing and delivery. This is not always an easy step for companies and even for testing organizations. To illustrate, after testing car seats for infants, Consumers Union withdrew its report because it only tested resistance to damage to dummies at speeds of 35 and 38 miles.

Therefore, to make well-designed products, it is crucial to create well-designed tests that simulate real-world conditions. This puts the onus on businesses to explore a broad range of workplace and consumer environments as well as to spend enough time and money to get meaningful test results and analyze them intelligently.

As if this weren’t daunting enough, there is marketing responsibility, too, thanks to online auctions. A defective product can be pulled out of production, storage or shipping — only to find its way into the hands of those who aren’t interested in protecting a brand. For instance, if an unsafe product is auctioned and then the buyer sells the products online, the consumer has no way of knowing how safe or unsafe this product may be.

Consumers are also shopping online with a wary eye. When purchasing toys via the Internet, it’s important to remember that it is possible the toys could have been designed and made without child safety completely in mind, sold after being pulled off the shelves and promoted online by unscrupulous people, explains Forbes.

As that thing most associated with toys — fun — has been eclipsed by safety concerns, it is important to note that consumers the world over should not be quick to assign blame without the facts.

“There have been a number of product recalls, for a variety of reasons, and because of them, both the U.S. toy industry and our Chinese suppliers have taken it on the chin,” Hasbro’s Hassenfeld wrote.

“Some of this is deserved, but a lot is not,” he said.

Earlier:

China Declares War on Dangerous Products

Rapid Prototyping Shows Few Signs of Slowing

Resources

The Myths of China and Toys
by Alan G. Hassenfeld
Forbes, Nov. 12, 2007

Toy Safety in the United States
Toy Industry Association, July 2007

Toxic Toys on the Web
Forbes, Nov. 9, 2007

Checking Our List
by Paige Wiser
Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 23, 2007

Don’t Let the Hype Scare You from Toys
by Paul Nyhan
Seattle Post-Intelligence, Nov. 21, 2007

Consumer Reports Withdraws Infant Car Seat Report
Consumers Union, Jan. 18, 2007