The Safe Practices of Mattel Corporation

THE SAFE PRACTICES OF MATTEL CORPORATION MONDAY, JULY 18, 2011 In acting responsively, Mattel established a Global Citizenship report in 2009 that would reflect Mattel's global citizenship efforts. They wanted to evolve their standards to reflect labor practices and environmental stewardship within the company. Under this report, they would address social compliance issues, employee health and safety, evironmental management, ensure employees were treated with respect when it came to wages, working hours and living conditions, cultural, ethic and philosophical differences in the countries that Mattel operates. Mattel is also an active supporter of the global toy industry's iniative where they are continuously trying to improve factory working conditions which are referred by the ICTI Care Process (ICP). This code is based on the ethical operating practices that are similar to Mattel's GMP. This code was designed to promote safe and just working conditions in their toy factories around the world providing toy companies with a better approach to responsible manufacturing that promotes safe and humane working conditions. Mattel launched a sustainability strategy that focused on helping the company to minimize it's ecological footprint within the company's value chain--that starts from the design process to manufacturing to disposal of products and waste. This illustrates the importance of Mattel's personal committance of its business in everyday practices. Mattel keeps three important factors in mind when it comes to their toys and their safety: 1) Design it with the end in mind: they keep the sustainability efforts in mind during manufacturing but also recognizes the opportunity of where design and packaging products plays into manufacturing. 2) Make it with eco-efficiencies: going beyond the design, they are exploring the possibilities that gain efficiencies that go into reduce environmental impacts that go into the manufacturing and distribution of their products. 3) Live with personal committment: they are helping to foster a commitment of sustainability that starts with personal commitment where many activities are inspired by employees grass-roots initiatives. The law has brought several issues to even small businesses, independent craftsmen, and second-hand stores where the safety of childrens toys are concerned. This has even affected toy giant, Mattel, where their leaded toys put a scare that pushed lobbyists to help shape a law. The CPSIA provides that every manufacturer of all childrens products must submit their products to independent test for lead and other chemicals before selling them. For some reason, this exempted the largest toy manufacturer, Mattel. In 2007 and 2008, Mattel lobbied for a provision that prompted them to complete their own in-house testing operation to combat the bad publicity and litigation which resulted in handfuls of calls regarding unsafe levels of lead in their toys. Because of its poor practices, this forced Mattel to come up with better testing of their products. This prompted Mattel to impose the same burdens on every competitor, even those who hand-carved toddler- sized chairs in their small shop. This regulation imposes crushing burdens on the smaller businesses and moderate burdens on the bigger manufacturers where the smaller businesses may as well just close up shop because they can't afford to test their products on every product line. Mattel Inc. CEO, Robert Ekert, that the company could have done a better job overseeing the subcontractors in China which produce more than 21 million toys that were recalled. Federal regulators and toy manufacturers have spotted loose Chinese standards spotty US enforcement which contributed to many calls regarding the recalls of Chinese-made toys, food and other products regarding health threats. Ekert made an attempt to bring down public outcry by going to the Senate Appropriations subcommitte to seek to test the safety of Chinese-made products within their own laboratories that are certified within their own company. Under federal law, manufacturers must report all claims of potentially hazardous product defects within 24 hours. According to reports, Mattel supposedly took months to gather information and took it on themselves to do a private investigation any problems that they were aware of. According to Ekert, Mattel has been working with the CPSC to develop a new standard of reporting protocols. Because of these alleged unsafe practices, manufacturers are scrambling to ensure public confidence in the safety of their toys that are made in the United States and, of course, those in China. Because of this, China's product Chief, Li Changjiang, assured that the toys made in their laboratories would be safer, better and more appealing. Even with Mattel's safety checks in China did not prevent the recall of several toy recalls. Mattel executives discovered lead in some of the European retailers that sells Mattel's toys. Mattel stopped operations at the factory and conducted an investigation. This prompted Mattel to recall nearly 83 products. Ekert commented that they knew our regulations and our program, and know something went wrong. Because of this recall, Mattel requires companies to use paint and materials that are provided by certified suppliers. They are also looking into ways to overcome the problem and reduce the amount of toys produced in contract factories. Almost 50% of Mattel's revenue comes from toys made in eleven factories it owns and operates; which is a high share for Mattel. The Toy Industry Association has been working with the CPSC to find new regulations that require more stringent safety checks. Ekert also comment that the company is also working on better safety standards and conducting independent tests in order to ensure safer toys that the company produces. The CPSC has granted Mattel's request to use their own labs for testing as long as they are under federal law to recall any items contaminated by lead. This gives Mattel a competitive advantage because smaller businesses must pay independent labs to run tests on their products, which can run from hundreds to thousands of dollars. According to Mattel, their products go through rigorous safety tests. Mattel spokeswoman, Lisa Marie Bongiovanni, says that Mattel has a "fire wall" in place that protects it from any corporate influence. Because lead can cause irreversible brain damage, this recall has put a scare into parents and has pushed Congress to pass a new law. Because of this new law, Mattel has not had any recalls since. Since the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2009 went into effect, banning lead paint and certain types of hormone-disrupting phthalate plasticizers, this requires that manufacturers have their products tested by third party to ensure that their products meet the toy safety standards set forth by the CPSC. Most importantly, parents and caregivers shouldn't assume that toys are necessarily safe just because these new regulations are in place. Because toys look so innocent and seem safe, parents may overlook the safety as potentially causing any harm to their children. Parents and caregivers should be educated on the hazards of recalled toys as some may still be on shelves of toy stores in order to minimize any risk of injury, or even death. Choking hazards are the most prevalent, even the toy didn't come with small parts. Parents and caregivers should use parental instinct when it comes to age guidelines instead of packaging suggestions. The best way to ensure the safety of childrens toys, Mattel is making the safety its number one priority by creating and producing toys that children love. They are making sure to be responsible for the quality and safety of the toys and products they make. And most importantly, they are establishing trust in their products for consumers by employing strict standards from product design to manufacture up to distribution of the their products. In order for the stakeholders to ensure the society that their products are safe for children, they are applying internal operating procedures that are designed to meet or exceed regulation compliance or laws that are enforced by the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and regulatory counterparts around the world. Mattel's mission statements says that: 1) Play Fair--which encourages the Mattel organization to align decision making with company values; 2) Play Together--by working with employees, partners, vendors, and regulators to work together to bring the world toys that parents and caregivers trust and children love; 3) Play to Grow--by committing a sustainable future through the efforts to work smarter and reduce the efforts impacted on the environment; 4) Play with Passion--by volunteering in the community to help underserved children to experience the joy of play. Resources Mattel toy recall | Mattel Recalls Millions of Fisher-Price Toys ... www.rodale.com/mattel-toy-recall; retrieved on July 13, 20aa Toy safety tops Mattel list www.nydailynews.com/.../2007-09-13_toy_safety_tops_mattel_list-2.html -; retrieved July 13, 2011 Mattel wins exemption from independent toy safety tests articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/28/business/fi-mattel28; retrieved July 13, 2011 Safety Concerns Prompt Massive Toy Recall : NPR www.npr.org › News › US; retrieved July 13, 2011 Lead Paint Prompts Mattel to Recall 967000 Toys - New York Times www.nytimes.com/2007/08/02/business/02toy.html; retrieved July 13, 2011 Timothy P. Carney: Mattel exempted from toy safety law it helped ... washingtonexaminer.com/.../timothy-p-carney-mattel-exempted-toy-safety-law-it-helped-write; retrieved July 13, 2011 Mattel CEO admits it could have done better - Business - Consumer ... www.msnbc.msn.com/.../mattel-ceo-admits-it-could-have-done-better-job/; retrieved July 13, 2011 Mattel Inc. - About Us - Corporate Responsibility corporate.mattel.com/about-us/corporate-responsibility.aspx; July 13, 2011