Virginia Tech Research Center, Arlington, VA

Society of Product Safety Professionals serves consumer product field

Virginia Tech and Society of Product Safety Professionals joint effort to advance compliance and safety skills of industry professionals.

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, USA, December 16, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Product safety professionals and academic leaders join forces in an educational program that enables industry professionals to earn the designation Certified Product Safety Professional™. The program begins with an opening workshop held on March 22 & 23, 2023 at the Virginia Tech Research Center in Arlington, Virginia. The guidelines and criteria for admittance to the course, ‘Consumer Product Safety Professional Certification’, are explained in the course description.

The 12 week program is a hybrid of on-campus opening followed by a webinar section featuring weekly topics in the risk management and regulatory compliance areas. The program's instructors include industry, academic, regulatory, and consulting experts. The program concludes with an assessment workshop testing the candidates’ knowledge, writing, and judgement skills.

Now in its 5th year, the certification program was conceived and developed by the Society of Product Safety Professionals (SPSP) in cooperation with its education partner, ADK Information Services, LLC. Over 1,000 professionals have attended various university-level education programs designed by SPSP and ADK since 2010.

Registration for the 2023 certification program is now open.

The programs topics and instructors include the following:

Opening Workshop – March 22-23:
(faculty member name followed by the topic of their presentation)

Patricia Adair, Virginia Tech graduate and member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission professional staff, ‘Class welcome’
Robert S. Adler, former Commissioner and Acting Chair of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (2009-2021), ‘Product Safety and Ethics’
Deborah Dickerson, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Human Factors Engineering and Management Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, ‘Organizational Culture’
Don Moffett, International Trainer, and Director of Social Compliance at Carhartt, ‘Risk Assessment and Hazard Analysis’
Michelle Gillice, Partner, and Michael Gentine, counsel, at Arnold & Porter, ‘Compliance Communications’
Alan Abrahams, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Business Technology, Virginia Tech; David Goldberg, Ph.D. Association Professor, Management Information Systems, San Diego State University; and Richard Gruss, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Radford University, ‘Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.’
Steve Epner, Adjunct Faculty, Chaifetz School of Business, Saint Louis University, Team Exercise ‘Crisis Management and Communications’

Webinar Phase of program (60-minute individual webinars)-March 28 – May 1

Risk Assessment and Product Assurance Section:

Rohat Khanna, Fire and Combustion Program areas Risk Manager, Consumer Product Safety Commission, ‘How CPSC manages Risk Assessment’
Tim Sullivan, Senior Vice President Global Quality/Compliance/Sustainability, Spin Master, ‘Case Studies in risk and defective products’
Rick Rosati, Vice President, Governmental Affairs and Industry Standards, Bureau Veritas, ‘Client/Test Lab Culture’
Jacqueline Campbell, Voluntary Standards Coordinator, Consumer Product Safety Commission, ‘Voluntary Standard’s Impact on Regulators and Business’

Regulatory Compliance and Regulations:

Cheryl Possenti, Founding Partner, Goldberg Segalia, ‘CPSC’s Regulatory Authority’
Will Troutman, Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright, Chemical Restrictions: ‘State, Regional, and Local Governments’
Rod Freeman, Partner, International Products Lawyer, Cooley (UK), ‘International Product Regulation’
Erika Z. Jones, Partner, Mayer Brown, ‘Section 15 (b) Reporting and Penalties’

Product Investigations and Human Factors:

Brandan Mueller, Partner, Manufacturing, ‘Conducting Product Investigations’
Jonathan Judge, Partner, ArentFox Schiff, ‘The Other Human Factor: Effective CPSC Compliance Inside Your Company’
Steve Hall, Senior Consultant, Director of Hazard Communication Consultations and Director of Research and Development; and Jared Frantz, Managing Consultant, Applied Safety & Ergonomics, ‘Human Factors’

Product Recall Design and Implementation:
Michael del Negro, Vice President, Acting Head of Compliance Risk and Ethics, Peleton Interactive, ‘Managing Effective Product Recalls’
Chris Harvey, Vice President, Sedgwick, ‘Planning and Implementing Product Recalls and Removals’
Rebeca Sharpe, Director, Product Compliance and Safety, Best Buy: ‘Case Study of a retailer’s product recall. ‘

Individuals who earn their designation are awarded their pin at the annual stakeholder meeting of SPSP which is held during an international conference convened by the International Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO) that takes place annually in Orlando, FL or Washington, D.C.

For more information: info@productsafetyprofessionals.org

Don Kornblet
ADK Information Services, LLC
dkornblet@adksafetyinfo.com