Product Liability Can Cost Your Company Millions!
OEM converting equipment companies can find themselves at considerable risk of lawsuits, large judgments and legal costs resulting from workplace injuries. Many times the companies had no knowledge of their exposure and the huge impact that results. Steering your company through the pitfalls of product liability lawsuits requires an understanding of the law, hazard analysis and risk reduction.
CEMA, the Converting Equipment Manufacturers Association understands the importance of these issues to OEM equipment manufacturers and has focused its annual meeting on bringing together some of the top experts in the field to address the current laws and practices that are a must know for all equipment manufacturers.
Product Safety Practices and Risk Management: Contributing to the Machinery Manufacturer's and User's Bottom Line
Product safety is not just a cost of doing business. It can make good business sense. Systematically incorporating hazard analysis and risk reduction into a machinery manufacturer's and user's everyday business practices can improve product quality, make product offerings more competitive, reduce product claim expenses that improve the bottom line, and reduce your legal risk profile. The program's panel will explain both the business and legal rationale for incorporating risk assessment practices into your company's management program. Updates on machinery safety standards and ANSI Z535 standards will be presented. |
AIMCAL/CEMA Members and AWEB Attendees may attend the CEMA Annual Meeting at no charge. If you are attending AWEB06, you do NOT need to fill out the Annual Meeting Registration form. Instead, use the AWEB06 Registration form, located here.
AGENDA
Wednesday, May 10
8:00 am – 12:00 pm Registration
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm – 1:05 pm Welcome and Introduction
1:05 pm – 1:45 pm The Importance of Formalized Hazard Analysis, Risk Assessment and Risk Reduction to the Manufacturer of the Equipment.
Fred Hayes – Technical Director, Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI)
ISO 12100 (Machinery Safety – Basic Principles) and ISO 14121 (Risk Assessment) have made systematic hazard analysis, risk assessment and risk reduction the bedrock of product safety. PMMI has incorporated these principles into its machinery standards, and it has been documented that by standardizing product safety practices to incorporate hazard analysis and risk assessment to reduce product hazards, product sellers can improve product quality, improve competitiveness and deliver bottom line results.
1:45 pm – 2:25 pm Standards, Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment in the Courtroom
William O. "Skip" Martin, Esq. – Partner, Haight Brown & Bonesteel, L.L.P.
Safety standards are often cited in product liability litigation. Plaintiffs use them to argue that the manufacturer failed to exercise reasonable care in the design and marketing of a product; Defendants use them to argue that their product was made and sold at or above the standard. Domestic safety standards are not the only standards that are being cited. Foreign and international standards can become a measure of reasonable care. Designing products differently for different parts of the world might carry an unwarranted legal risk. Now that there are risk assessment standards for machinery manufacturers, are companies who do not adopt product risk reduction practices at risk in the courtroom?
2:25 pm – 2:45 pm BREAK
2:45 pm – 3:25 pm Current Developments in the ANSI Z535 Safety Label Standards and International Harmonization.
Jerry Reganess, Standards Compliance Manager, Hazard Communications Systems
The ANSI Z535 standards on safety signs and labels have significantly influenced the manner in which safety information is presented on product labels and workplace safety signs. Originally promulgated in 1991, the Z535 standards are evolving and changes are in store in the latest round of revisions that are expected to be approved in 2006. Hazard analysis and risk assessment are proposed to be incorporated in the process for selecting signal words identifying the level of a hazard. A new part 6 is proposed that will apply familiar ANSI Z535 principles to "collateral information" --- operating manuals, information for use, material safety data sheets and other product information. Finally, international harmonization of standards applicable to safety signs and labels is making progress.
3:25 pm – 4:00 pm Tying it all together: What Product Liability Law Expects From Product Sellers; Do These Standards Help the Seller Meet Those Expectations.
J.K. Leonard, Partner, Ball & Weed, P.C.; President, American Law Firm Association
While the principles of product liability can vary from state to state, a recognized formulation of product defect posits that a product is defective in design when the foreseeable risks of harm posed by the product could have been reduced or avoided by the adoption of a reasonable alternative design and the omission of the alternative design renders the product not reasonably safe; similarly, a product is defective because of inadequate warnings or instructions could have been reduced or avoided by reasonable warnings or instructions and the omission renders the product not reasonably safe. The risk assessment standards account for many of the same variables that this legal formulation incorporates. What is a reasonable alternative design and what is an adequate warning and instruction?
4:00pm – 4:45 pm Question and Answer Session with the Panel
Thursday, May 11
8:30am - 10:00am CEMA Committee Meetings
10:30am - 12:00am CEMA Annual Meeting
|
CLICK HERE to return to the AWEB06 Overview pages. 
Hotel Information: 
Charlotte Marriott Executive Park
5700 Westpark Drive
Charlotte, North Carolina 28217 USA
Phone: 1-704-527-9650
Fax: 1-704-527-6918
Web: http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/CLTNC
Contact the hotel directly for reservations. Ask for the AIMCAL room rate ($109US).
About the hotel:
Nestled in the flourishing city of Charlotte and surrounded by the breathtaking beauty of North Carolina, the Charlotte Marriott Executive Park is the ideal setting for productive meetings and a relaxing stay. The Charlotte Marriott Executive Park offers superior luxury accommodations, amenities and services, along with the Marriott tradition of a detail-oriented and courteous staff. We promise an experience that is pleasantly and uniquely different... uniquely Marriott.
Directions from Airport:
Hotel Direction: 6 mi E
Take Billy Graham Parkway South to Tyvola Road/Coliseum Area Exit.
Travel on Tyvola Rd. approx. 4 miles.
Turn right at light after crossing over I-77.
Estimated taxi fare: 12 USD (one way)
|
 |
 BACK TO AWEB06
Annual Meeting Agenda
Hotel Information
If you have never attended a CEMA meeting, now is the time to learn about this dynamic organization. CEMA members return year after year to the annual meeting because it is an outstanding opportunity to develop business and personal relationships with leading industry peers.
|
