Product Safety
The importance of product safety cannot be over-emphasized especially in the United States of America. It is estimated that defective products in America cause more than 22 000 deaths and 29 million injuries per annum (Encyclopedia). The total cost of property damage amounts to $ 700 billion per annum (Encyclopedia). Product safety is necessary as it ensures that the design features, the process of creating and selling the products adhere to the safety regulations (Ali et al. 387). Regulation of how product safety is provided within any manufacturing and distribution process is complementary (Encyclopedia). It secures that rights of the consumers concerning protecting their rights. Further, product safety ensures that there are fewer health incidences, especially with unsafe products (Ali et al. 387). The health of the consumer, therefore, is protected from the onset of production, including the supply of the production input.
How product safety influences product development is through the law. Under modern private law, there are clear guidelines on how parties that are affected by the harmful consumption of products can seek legal action (Ali et al. 387). Nevertheless, it is crucial to understand that civil lawsuits are often ineffective in ensuring that the manufacture and supply of harmful products are eliminated (Ali et al. 387). In other measures, the use of tort law can be used to guarantee product safety which in turn affects the product development process (Ali et al. 389). In America, for instance, the ease of access to justice in cases of personal injury are rampant. It is combined with the safety of the use of products that are safer (Ali et al. 388). Factors on legal tenets of consumer protection play a pivotal part in ensuring that the safety of products during development, the supply of input and market provision are guaranteed.
The law on tort provides guidelines on the type of suits, the type of defendants and the type of environmental impact of unsafe products (HBR 2257). Ideally, the law of tort provides guidelines on how cutting-edge research and resolving claims are determined through the causal link between the offending substance and the claimed injury (HBR 2257). Causation can be differential depending on the safety of the product. From an environmental perspective, causation can be toxicity. In the law of torts, particular interest is based on the analysis of the precedence in toxic exposure which can lead to extensive injuries (HBR 2257). Under the law on Toxic Torts, personal injuries are taken into consideration. It includes exposures to asbestos, pesticides, and various pharmaceuticals (HBR 2258). Due to the nature of the substances, it can be had in the court of law to argue about the exposure causation and occurrence. It is noted that under the law of tort, determining causation can be contentious (HBR 2258). It is often challenging to show a relationship between the cause and the compensation strategy for the victims (HBR 2258).
What would bolster the causation is the arguments presented. On one end, there is the issue on causation levels that can be too low to show the relationship between the causation and the injuries caused on the victim. On the other hand, there is the issue on the inability to show causation concerning the plaintiff (HBR 2265). An individual entity complaining about the causation carries less weight in any court of law (HBR 2265).
Work Cited
Ali, Salim, et al. PRODUCT SAFETY AND PRODUCT LIABILITY. June 2017, pp. 2394–9333.
Encyclopedia. Product Safety and Liability | Encyclopedia.Com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/product-safety-and-liability. Accessed 1 June 2020.
HBR. Causation in Environmental Law. harvardlawreview.org, 2015, https://harvardlawreview.org/2015/06/causation-in-environmental-law/. Accessed 1 June 2020, pp. 2257-2277.