For public bodies from local authorities to the European Commission, Consumer Risk Limited has undertaken work ranging in scape from initial advice, through investigations of specific safety issues or problems, to research into major policy alterntives in respect of targetting of resources options for accident data provision and impact analysis of legislative proposals.
Particular skills and experience include the following:
Initial assessment of hazards (eg of new products) through a combination of ergonomic evaluation, searches of appropriate injury databases and drawing analogies with standards requirements for products with similar potential hazards.
Searches and reviews of previous research into specific hazards or aspects of accident prevention - through access to a variety of specialist bibliographic resources, professsional safety and legal databases, specialist libraries (including BSI, British Library, CAPT, RoSPA, Cambridge University and the Consumer Saftey Insitiute in Amsterdam, SCeV).
Pre-standardisation development work to establish safety requirements in new areas.
Research into practical application and legal interpretations of General Product Safety Regulations, Consumer Protection Act and specific product regulations, including research into case law, complaints, prosecutions and product recalls. Writing guidance and giving seminars.
Quantitative and qualitative risk assessments in relation to consumer injuries. Location and analysis data from a wide range of specialist sources in the UK and overseas. Critical appraisal of inherent biases in different collection methods. Estimation of comparative risk or severity. Design of databases, surveys and questionnaires relating to injuries and exposure.
International liaison and cross-border research projects with safety organisations in other member states of EU and OECD.
Bringing together small ad-hoc multidisciplinary teams of experts and researchers to examine a specific consumer safety issue from all the necessary angles (potentially including laboratory testing, user trials and expert experience.
Expert assistance to other contractors. Input of experience of consumer safety law, standards and background knowledge into projects where the main contractor is new to this particular field.