ABSTRACT
There are few sources of data on which end-products are most likely to cause injury. Designers would be the first to benefit from a database, which would warn them of those products that required their greatest attention. The closest to a valuable source for end-products is to be found in the Home Accident Surveillance System and its associated systems. Assessing reliability and safety requires reliable and relevant data on the components and sub-assemblies that comprise the end-product. In 1978 the European Commission set up an informal information exchange system on the safety of foodstuffs which was operated, during the 1980s, on an experimental basis for nearly all consumer products. These systems provide raw data for the regulatory and legislative bodies and publish reports on selected individual products. Individual databases on the reliability and safety of components and sub-assemblies are maintained by members of the European Safety and Reliability Data Association.
