The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is chartered with protecting the public from bad product design and recalls thousands of cribs due to the inability of some parents to follow directions. Now granted, often many designs and instructions for assembly are so bad as to be flagrant violations of all that is “design holy”, still three to four million cribs. And why, because a handful of children are injured, a smaller number die. Please don’t over-react. I understand the anguish of parents who lose a child or who are feeling guilty because their child was harmed or frightened.  I get the anger they feel in this day and age over desperately needing to find the right scapegoat. However, the penalty seems to vastly outweigh the crime here and the solution seems to be all wrong.

Along with cribs, we now see a recall of 3.4 million window shades by IKEA. Why? Because a child almost choked by having the cord wrapped around its neck. The agency says about 500 children have choked to death since the early 1980s. They estimate about one child a month dies. This is horrible, but design cannot replace the watchful eye of parents. Design recalls cannot replace the common sense and even “over-protectiveness” and “hyper-vigilance” parents need to exhibit for their infants and toddlers. There are far more creative ways for an infant or toddler to harm them selves than we think because we survived, probably due to our parents over-protective natures, when we were growing up.

Recalls have severe impacts on all the stakeholders. Manufacturers, distributors, retailers are all hurt, some even destroyed by such recalls. Consumers are often left with poorly designed and dangerous items because the cost of replacing them is beyond their means. e.g., cribs. The confusion, inconvenience, cost, and disruption of lives due to these mass recalls are manifest. Don’t get me wrong, those who knowingly and willingly introduce poor designs for profit sake, e.g., use of lead-based paint or tainted dry-wall from China, deserve retribution, but often recalls are based on oversights and unintended and unexpected consequences rather than intentional bad practices.

It seems to me as a human factor trained professional who works in product design, usability testing, and safety, that the CPSC and other agencies tasked to protect the consumers in this country have options. Quite simply, the CPSC should require hazard analysis, risk-analysis, and usability testing for all products deemed capable of harming a person. For example; chainsaws, power tools and products children and toddlers interact with should be tested.  Such requirements need to be enforced, especially for products made overseas and sold to the U.S. market. There are professionals and methodologies time-tested and true to accomplish that very goal. The fact that there are businesses, which do not use them, doesn’t mean a company should not be required to do so.

As John Wooden, historic coach of the UCLA basketball program, once said, “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you ever have time to do it over.” These are truly sentiments of wisdom worth recalling.

Being vertically challenged can pose a number of obstacles in my life. For instance, I can’t reach the top or the next to the top shelf in my kitchen cabinets. I can’t turn the fan on in the living room or my porch. I don’t hang pictures at the “appropriate” height for the general population and the list goes on.

One thing that was very important to me when purchasing a car last year was to find one that fit my needs:

• acceptable height of seats for entering and existing the vehicle
• ease of putting children in and out of the vehicle
• ability to pull down hatch easily without “jumping” to reach the handle

All of the needs above were those I have never been able to find in a vehicle that was large enough to fit four family members and a good deal of luggage. Some of the various cars I test drove included:

• Honda CRV
• Honda Odyssey
• Toyota Sienna
• Mazda CX-9

A friend of mine suggested trying out the Mazda 5 which replaced the former MPV offering. I was apprehensive, at first, to test drive this car due to the “mini-van” stigma and the fact I always claimed I would NEVER own a mini-van. Lo’ and behold, the Mazda 5 won hands down. The height of the overall vehicle is perfect for entering and exiting the vehicle. This vehicle is also perfect for installing car seats and putting the children in and out of their seats. The hatch is at a reachable height for closure and does not require a high jump.

I have had the Mazda 5, now, for over a year and have no qualms with any aspect of the car (except for the empty space in the console where the GPS “could be”). I can honestly report that I have thoroughly enjoyed the car and all of its features. Being vertically challenged is no longer an issue for me (at least in the car arena).

I grew up very traditionally where girls vacuumed (boring) and boys got to work with power tools (fun). So I never learned the ins and outs of what I generally call “being handy with tools.” I figured I could learn, though. Since they sell power tools to the general population at many home improvement stores, how hard can it be to use them? (Especially if the store’s motto is, “You can do it, we can help.”)

After many, many trips to the store and way too many hours sweating, I have developed the following theory:

If you design power tools for women properly, men will buy them too. And guess what? They will secretly thank you and buy more of your products.

Let me explain. If you are a girl and you go to a home improvement store, this will probably sound familiar. You go to your local home improvement store, armed with a shopping list (of course). You’ve done your research on the web for what you want and you are now in what you hope is the right aisle looking for it. (PS — why does it take so long to find what you want in those aisles anyway?) As you are scanning, a salesperson approaches and asks if they can help you find something. When you ask them where that something is (“where can I find a rubber mallet?”), they politely show you. Then it happens: sometimes they will show you the tools specifically designed for women and recommend them to you. In the case of the rubber mallets, it is a rubber mallet with a pink handle that is the same in every way to the other mallets. But it’s pink! Girls love pink, right?

source:outblush.com

Why tool companies do these things is beyond me. My only guess is they broke the all-important golden rule of successful product design: Know Your User. It’s so important to successful design that it gets capitalized. Sometimes companies interpret this rule to mean something like this: “Well, I know our users. Who doesn’t know a person who is a woman? They like pink. Let’s make our tools pink. They will love it, flock to our stores, and unload their paychecks to us. And we won’t have to spend money learning about what they want because we already know.”

That line of reasoning is very tempting to companies that are trying to cut costs. However, it usually is more of the penny wise – pound foolish type of thinking and can contribute to low sales. (Can you guess how many pink tools I purchased?)

Here’s a better approach to solving the problem of making tools specifically for women:

Ask them what they want. What are their complaints about tools on the market? Watch them use your tools and your competitors’ tools. See where they are having trouble. Have them try out your new tools. Look up the anthropometric data on women and use it when designing your tools.

Although color might be mentioned in passing, I bet women would overwhelmingly tell you the following:

1. Tools are in general too heavy. I can’t lift a tool that weighs so much for long periods of time and maintain good control over it. Do you need to have huge biceps to use most tools?
2. Tools require very strong hands and fingers to activate controls. The force required from my fingers to press down a button on many tools is too high.
3. Tools require large hands to control and manipulate accurately and safely. The hand grips on many tools are made for someone with hands that are larger than my head.

Let’s say a tool company took those three suggestions to heart when designing their next line of tools. Now their tools are lightweight, less tiring to use, and perhaps have adjustable hand grips that can fit smaller hands (for example). In conjunction with a nice marketing campaign, that is something that would get the attention of women. When tools are all well-designed, companies can offer them in a variety of colors.

When you think about it, there is a huge opportunity to market these tools to men now too. Wouldn’t most men like those improvements? Not that men would want to appear un-manly (of course), but if a tool is lighter and less tiring to use, then they can work longer and be more productive with less risk of repetitive stress injury and pain. And those are very manly benefits that translate to your bottom line.