Portfolio

Director Consumer Product Safety Advice Ltd. (CPSA)

April 2009 – Present (4 years 9 months) Reading, United Kingdom

Mechanical testing of children's nursery products, risk assessment of toys, nursery products and other consumer products for US and EU markets. Advice and training on safety and regulatory compliance of consumer products. Auditing of factory manufacturing process and quality systems (Poland, China).

Currently a member of the following committees: CEN TC 252 WG3 (Wheeled Child Conveyances), BSI CW/001/01 (Child care articles - Seating), BSI CW/001/02 (Conveyances), BSI CW/001/03 (Safety equipment), BSI CW/001/05 (Nursery furniture), BSI TCI/066/0-/01 (Risks in the sleeping environment) - Panel chairman, ASTM Committee F15 on Consumer Products, BPA Technical Committee.

Independent Expert Witness CPSA Ltd

January 1998 – Present (16 years)

Given expert evidence in civil & criminal cases involving a wide range of consumer products (including: toys, children's nursery products and electrical goods).

Manager Toys & Juvenile Products Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services

June 2005 – December 2008 (3 years 7 months)

Test Laboratory Manager Mamas & Papas

May 2004 – June 2005 (1 year 2 months) Huddersfield, United Kingdom

Manager General Consumer Products Specialised Technology Resources (UK) Ltd - STR

February 1988 – May 2004 (16 years 4 months) Reading, United Kingdom

Projects

Development & Implementation of Mamas and Papas' UKAS Accredited Laboratory August 2004 to June 2005

Developed and established, from scratch, a quality management system including a product testing lab (for pushchairs, cribs, cots, beds storage units), which gained ISO 17025 UKAS accreditation (equivalent to ISO 9000 but with additional requirements for technical competence), including accreditation for Opinions & Interpretations. This has significantly improved the operation of Mamas and...more

Liverpool Trading Standards v Trend Europa (UK distributer of Brevi products) Chicco, SCS London & Petite Star – Baby Walkers July 1998 to August 1999

Commissioned by Fox Hayes Solicitors, acting on behalf of the manufacturers, I conducted extensive research on the safety of baby walkers which found that the dynamic stability test in the British Standard for baby walkers was defective in that walkers less likely to tip over in use were more likely to fail the standard test whereas those likely to tip over in use were likely to pass the test. I...more

Development and validation of the European Safety Standard Step and Tipover Test for baby walkers

The new test led to a significant improvement in the safety of baby walkers in the UK and Europe.

Consumer Product Accident Database February 2012 to July 2012

I developed an Access database and Excel Dashboard presentations for the analysis of the accident mechanisms related to accidents involving consumer products (primarily children's nursery products and other products for children). The database contains over 5 million accident reports. Used in product development and risk assessment of consumer products.

Risk estimation and evaluation procedures for consumer products April 2010 to July 2012

Development of CPSA Ltd risk assessment procedures based on the European RAPEX & US CPSC guidelines taking into account risk acceptability criteria identified through leading research. A risk estimation procedure has been developed to estimate the risk on a "reasonable worst case" basis (a requirement of RAPEX) in cases where one or more accidents or incidents have been reported to the...more

UKAS accreditation July 2009 to September 2009

Set up test laboratory on ISO 17025 principles and successful achievement of UKAS accreditation