However, although the commissioners and former commissioners we interviewed generally agreed about which criteria they emphasized for project selection, they expressed very different views on how some of these criteria should be interpreted. Significant Gaps Exist in CPSC’s Data on All Selection Criteria, Including Product-Related Injuries and Deaths

CPSC has developed a patchwork of independent data systems to provide information on deaths and injuries associated with consumer products. Better Data and Methodology Are Needed to Improve CPSC’s Cost-Benefit Analysis and Risk Assessment

CPSC uses two analytical tools—risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis—to assist in making decisions on regulatory and nonregulatory methods to address potential hazards. Because most of the agency’s projects do not involve regulation, relatively few CPSC projects conducted between January 1, 1990, and September 30, 1996, were subject to these requirements. This can sometimes make the risks assessed by CPSC—and the benefits of reducing those risks—appear greater. CPSC has not established internal procedures that require analysts to conduct comprehensive analyses and report them in sufficient detail. CPSC Has Established Procedures for Complying With Statutory Requirements for Releasing Manufacturer-Specific Information

To help minimize the possibility that a product might be unfairly disparaged, in section 6(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act, the Congress imposed restrictions on CPSC’s disclosure of manufacturer-specific information. Information from three sources—industry sources, published legal cases, and data on retractions—suggests that CPSC complies with its statutory requirements concerning information release.
Why GAO Did This Study

GAO discussed the Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) procedures to protect consumers from unreasonable risk of injuries, focusing on CPSC's project selection, use of cost-benefit analysis and risk assessment, and information release procedures.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) although CPSC has established criteria to help select new projects, with the agency's current data, these criteria can be measured only imprecisely if at all; (2) CPSC has described itself as "data driven," but its information on product-related deaths and injuries is often sketchy, and its lack of systematized descriptive information on past or ongoing projects makes it more difficult for agency management to monitor current projects and to assess and prioritize the need for new projects in different hazard areas; (3) CPSC's data are often insufficient to support rigorous application of risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis; (4) in addition, the cost-benefit analyses conducted by CPSC between 1990 and 1996 were frequently not comprehensive, and the reports on these analyses were not sufficiently detailed; (5) CPSC has established procedures to implement statutory requirements restricting the release of manufacturer-specific information; and (6) although industry representatives, consumer advocates, and CPSC expressed differing views on the merits of these restrictions, available evidence suggests that CPSC complies with these statutory requirements.