WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) begins accepting nominations for the Chairman's Circle of Commendation Award program today. Completed nominations should be received at CPSC by July 11, 2014.

The program was established in 2011 to identify and honor people and organizations that have made significant contributions to consumer product safety.

“I am inspired by people and organizations that have a passion and commitment to finding ways to make products and people safer,” Acting Chairman Robert Adler said. “This is a fitting way to honor their efforts to prevent deaths and injuries.”

Nominees can be individuals, organizations, businesses, state and local governments or other groups residing in or outside of the United States.

Nominations should include a cover form (available online), a description of the individual or organization, a description of how and to what extent the nominee has contributed to improving consumer product safety, and a summary of additional information. Up to three letters of support or other supporting documents may also be provided. Additional details are available at http://www.cpsc.gov/award.

A CPSC panel will screen nominations and forward recommendations to the Chairman. The Chairman will make the final selection of award recipients. The announcement of awardees will be made on a date to be determined.

Last year's awardees included:

Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Maryland’s Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene, whose leadership in consumer product safety vastly improved the safety of children in the U.S., including the removal from the U.S. market of over-the-counter cough and cold medications for children under age 4, a re-announcement and additional recall of trinkets with high levels of lead, the removal of infant sleep positioners from almost all store shelves in Maryland and the ban of the sale of crib bumpers in Maryland.

Dr. Toby Litovitz, the Executive and Medical Director of the National Capital Poison Center, Professor of Emergency Medicine at Georgetown University and Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at The George Washington University, who established the National Capital Poison Center, and whose research and advocacy led to the development of stronger product warnings and packaging for button/coin cell batteries and products that contain them, and the revision of several consumer product voluntary standards that address battery ingestion hazards.

Carol Pollack-Nelson, Ph.D., President of Independent Safety Consulting, in Rockville, Md., and President of the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO), whose participation in various voluntary standards development committees has led to revisions of standards for bunk bed ladders and side structures, integrated protective barriers on gas fireplace glass and full body harnesses on hunting tree stands. 

ASTM F15.22 Subcommittee on Toy Safety, which for 30 years has developed and shepherded comprehensive toy safety requirements that help protect children younger than 14 from possible hazards that may not be easily recognized in the normal use of a toy and has addressed safety specifications for batteries, heavy metals, and high-powered magnets in children’s toys.

Committee CS-003, Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand, a joint committee that covers safety requirements for children’s furniture sold in Australia and New Zealand, which developed a test for mattress firmness that outlines a method of testing all horizontal infant sleep surfaces that can be applied in laboratory, retail and home settings and allows investigators inspecting the sleep environment of infant fatalities to assess the firmness properties of the surface where a child is found.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical or mechanical hazard. CPSC's work to help ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters and household chemicals -– contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 40 years.

Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly-announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the Commission.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury go online to www.SaferProducts.gov or call CPSC's Hotline at 800-638-2772 or teletypewriter at 301-595-7054 for the hearing impaired. Consumers can obtain news release and recall information at www.cpsc.gov, on Twitter @USCPSC or by subscribing to CPSC's free e-mail newsletters.