Toy Safety & Sustainability: Free Tools for Members
September 17, 2019 | Did you know that The Toy Association offers members free toy safety and sustainability resources? Read on for the full scoop:
- Interested in going green(er)? Reduce and improve the environmental performance of your toy packaging by leveraging the Smart Packaging Initiative (SPI) tool, free to Toy Association members. Developed by the Walt Disney Company, The Toy Association adapted the Disney platform for exclusive use by its members in order to help them better assess the impact their product packaging designs have on the environment and encourage them to choose more eco-friendly options. Among the tool’s easy-to-use features is the option for companies to benchmark the impact of their product packaging designs against those produced by the rest of the industry. Members can access the tool online.
- Want to become a toy safety whiz? The Safety Education Program, a 12-module online course that launched at the beginning of the year, has already been completed by dozens of toy company employees and has received positive reviews from managers. Offered free-of-charge to Toy Association members and available to non-members for a fee, the program is led by Toy Association senior staff members and an outside expert, who cover key aspects of toy safety laws and requirements at the state, federal, and international levels. The program aims to help companies remain compliant as standards evolve. Course materials will be revised periodically as standards are created and/or revised. Everyone who successfully completes the program gets a certificate of completion from The Toy Association – great for sharing on resumes or LinkedIn.
- Looking for a global view of the regulatory landscape? The International Toy Safety Database is a tool that contains consumer product requirements for countries and regions around the world, including Australia, Canada, the European Union, Mexico, and the U.S. (including state level requirements). Users can search for and access product requirements by region/country and product category; get update alerts; view requirements for labeling, packaging, and restricted substances/materials; and more. The information is offered via Bureau Veritas’ OneSource™ platform and is exclusively available to Toy Association manufacturing members. For more information, including details on how to access the database, members may contact Heather Easley.
“The Toy Association’s online safety and sustainability resources complement our full suite of in-person trainings, annual seminars, and day-to-day guidance offered to toy companies. We encourage each one of our members to take advantage of these exclusive offerings,” said Ed Desmond, executive vice president of external affairs at The Toy Association.
The Toy Association has a long-standing commitment to helping toy companies produce and deliver safe playthings to kids and has been educating members on toy safety and environmental matters for many years. Toy Association staff members are at the forefront of advocating for effective new standards and revising existing ones as new products, trends, and technologies emerge and work day-in and day-out to ensure that toy professionals stay in-the-know about evolving laws, regulations, and requirements.