Changes to the Canadian Incident Reporting Legislation

The below link is for a pdf on Canadian legislation changes to section 14 of the CCPSA.

http://www.nortonrose.com/files/guidance-on-mandatory-incident-reporting-under-the-canada-consumer-product-safety-act-section-14-duties-in-the-event-of-an-incident-pdf-474kb-77326.pdf

Summary:

This document (draft) is for all consumer products (excluding feeds, plants, cosmetics, explosives - a full list is in appendix A) and includes issues with packaging.  All incidents with an impact on public safety need to be reported to health Canada.  An incident occurs when an individual dies or experiences adverse effects to their health.

Changes include definitions to the Criterion on what is a hazard (page 7).  These can include packaging associated with the product, incorrect/inadequate labeling, parts or components and even accessories to the product.

One area of interest is page 9 - "Unreasonable Product Hazard".  This legislation is meant for unreasonable hazards during normal/foreseeable use of the product.  The paper gives a great example of this:  Using a knife may cause a cut (reasonable hazard) but a knife handle breaking and causing a cut is an unreasonable hazard (sic).

Once a company becomes aware of the incident, a report must be filed within 2 days and a written report within 10. Information needed on these reports including Distribution numbers, product standards, company action plan, testings, etc.