ICPHSO's Winter Update

As we begin 2023, we kick off ICPHSO’s 30th Anniversary Year Celebration. We remember the 24 individuals representing regulators (states, CPSC, Health Canada, Great Britain, CDC), industry, and consumers, who came together to discuss and create a new organization focused on consumer product safety issues.

The representatives included long-time CPSC Compliance Director, David Schmeltzer, and the head of CPSC’s State and Local Programs, Ross Koeser who saw a need to bridge the gap between regulators and other product safety stakeholders that included, industry, global regulators, academia, health officials, consumers, and product safety service providers.  

The vision continues to this day through our three conferences where we bring together product safety stakeholders in an effort to address critical product safety issues. With the January 22, 2021, passing of David Schmeltzer, ICPHSO honors David’s product safety legacy through the David Schmeltzer Founder Scholarship Fund, which provides membership and symposium attendance opportunities to new product safety professionals.  Ross Koeser who was ICPHSO’s longtime Executive Director, retired in 2015 but still remains active in ICPHSO and supports our Symposiums in many ways. In recognition of Ross, we established the Ross Koeser Achievement Award which recognizes a member for their significant contributions to ICPHSO and that best exemplifies the actions Ross took as a founder and first Executive Director. The latest recipient will be announced during the 2023 Annual Symposium.

David and Ross are just two examples of the volunteer spirit that has guided ICPHSO for thirty years. We rely upon our members and attendees to support our three conferences and provide the content for the Annual and International Symposium. All product safety stakeholders are encouraged to participate and in addition to the David Schmeltzer Founder Scholarship, we provide financial assistance through our general scholarship fund to ensure underserved stakeholder groups can participate.

While certainly celebrating our past, we also are forward-looking and thanks to the generosity of Amazon and Intertek Assuris, we will present the second group of students during the 2023 Annual Symposium as part of our Student Mentorship Program. This program was established to provide a diverse group of students an opportunity to learn about product safety and the role of the product safety professional in our various stakeholder groups with the hope that some may find a future career in product safety. We look forward to the continuation of the mentorship program and appreciate the ICPHSO members who volunteer their time to mentor the students throughout the Symposium and beyond. 

Registration for the 2023 Annual Meeting and Training Symposium, February 20-23, 2023, in Orlando, Florida remains open as do opportunities for sponsorships and exhibitors. In addition to over 35 breakout and plenary sessions, 100 speakers, and more than 30 sponsors and exhibitors, we are providing opportunities for individual companies and organizations to offer early morning sponsored satellite sessions on specific product safety issues; 30th Anniversary celebration, including a firework show, provided by AFSL, keynote presentations by product safety leaders and regulatory updates by CPSC and other global regulators. You don’t want to miss our return to an in-person meeting in Orlando.

We are also looking forward to our one-day 2023 North America Product Safety Training Workshop, June 27, 2023, hosted by Wayfair in Boston, Massachusetts. Check the website for updates as the planning gets underway www.icphso.org. 

Finishing off our 30^th anniversary year will be our 2023 International Symposium October 26-27, 2023, hosted by IKEA at its headquarters in in Almhult, Sweden. We look forward to seeing you in Sweden for two days of global product safety education, training, and networking. Check the website for updates.  

As you can see, we continue to provide the training, education, and networking opportunities you have come to expect from ICPHSO during the past thirty years. We appreciate all who have supported ICPHSO through the years and will continue to strive to bring the global product safety community together in an effort to continue to build on the founder's vision of a global organization that provides a voice and training opportunities for all product safety professionals. 

We look forward to seeing you in Orlando!

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