CPSC obtains most of its information on  injuries from its National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS),  which gathers information from a nationally representative sample of  about 100 hospital emergency rooms. CPSC Has Not Analyzed Racial and Ethnic Differences in Product- Related Injury and Death because of Data Limitations

CPSC estimates product-related injury and death rates by age group, but  because neither emergency room nor death certificate data provide  complete information about both race and ethnicity and related products,  CPSC has not analyzed product-related injury and death rates by race and  ethnicity or other characteristics that could identify particularly  vulnerable populations. As shown in figure 2, our analysis of CPSC’s NEISS data found that race  and ethnicity data were not coded in about 31 percent of cases in 2007. In addition, NEISS hospitals that have recorded race and ethnicity  information do so inconsistently, in part because of limited CPSC  guidance. The majority of hospitals reviewed in this study had  inconsistent methods for collecting data on patient race, ethnicity, and  primary language. While death certificates may contain more complete and accurate race and  ethnicity data than the NEISS system, according to CPSC and CDC  officials, related product information is not consistently documented on  the certificates. CPSC Has Developed or Modified Some Consumer Information Efforts to Reach Specific Minority Populations, but Has Not Assessed the Results of These Efforts

CPSC has incorporated some elements of key consumer education  practices to provide consumer product safety information to minority  populations, such as periodically using consumer and other stakeholder  input to inform its outreach efforts, but it has not specifically defined goals  or developed measures to assess whether these efforts are effectively  reaching minority populations (see app. CPSC has also identified and established relationships with other  organizations to help disseminate consumer safety information to  additional minority communities through electronic, broadcast, and print  media. Organizations we contacted for this report, including NSN members,  consumer groups, and organizations that conduct injury prevention  research or implement injury prevention programs in diverse communities  generally reported using safety information provided by CPSC, and some  offered suggestions for improving efforts to reach minority communities. CPSC Has Used Some Consumer Input to Develop Safety Information, but Has Not Assessed Outreach Efforts to Specific Audiences

CPSC has periodically conducted audience research to strengthen its  consumer information efforts. CPSC has also established goals for its overall consumer information  efforts, but not for its messages targeted to specific populations. CPSC relies on the Neighborhood Safety Network to share product safety  information with audiences that can be hard to reach, but the agency has  not formally assessed whether these populations are receiving and using  the information. Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The objectives of this report were to examine (1) what is known about the  relative incidence of preventable injuries and deaths related to drowning,  poisoning, and suffocation associated with products intended for  children’s use among minority children compared with nonminority  children, and (2) what actions the Consumer Product Safety Commission  (CPSC) has taken through its public information and education initiatives  to minimize child injuries and deaths, including those in minority  populations, related to products intended for children’s use.
Why GAO Did This Study

In 2004, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimated that 29,400 deaths in the United States were related to consumer products. As required under Section 107 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, this study reviews what is known about the relative incidence of preventable injuries and deaths among minority children associated with products intended for children's use and also examines what actions CPSC has taken through its public information and education initiatives to minimize these injuries and deaths. To address these issues, we assessed injury and death data sources used by CPSC, compared CPSC's consumer education efforts with key practices, and interviewed federal officials and groups representing the health and consumer interests of minority populations.

What GAO Found

Few studies have assessed racial and ethnic differences in child death rates from injuries related to consumer products, and CPSC has not analyzed whether specific racial or ethnic groups are disproportionately affected by product hazards because of data limitations. These limitations include incomplete and inconsistent race and ethnicity data on emergency room reports and the inconsistent presence of product-related information on death certificates. In 2007, race and ethnicity data were not coded in about 31 percent of cases in CPSC's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), which collects data from a nationally representative sample of hospital emergency rooms. In addition, the hospitals that do record race and ethnicity information in CPSC's NEISS system do so inconsistently, in part because of limited CPSC guidance. While death certificates may include more complete race and ethnicity information compared with nonfatal injury data from hospitals, related product information is not consistently documented on the certificates. Despite this lack of data, CPSC has developed or modified some consumer information efforts to reach specific minority populations, but it has not assessed the results of these efforts. CPSC provides information in Spanish for many of its outreach efforts, including its telephone hotline, Web site, television, radio, and print publications. CPSC has also identified and established relationships with other organizations to help disseminate consumer safety information to minority communities. And while CPSC has used some consumer input to develop safety information, it has not assessed outreach efforts for specific audiences. CPSC has also established goals for its overall consumer information efforts, but not for its messages targeted to specific populations. In addition, CPSC relies on its Neighborhood Safety Network, a group of organizations that have expressed interest in receiving product safety information, to share information with audiences that can be hard to reach, but the agency has not assessed whether these populations are receiving and using the information. Organizations we contacted for this report, including Neighborhood Safety Network members and children's safety groups, generally reported using safety information provided by CPSC, but some offered suggestions for improvement of efforts to reach minority communities, such as providing safety information in other languages and additional exposure through broadcast media.