Weinstein, Dr. Howard, Associate Director, Office of Product Safety, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, accompanied by Alvin L. Gottlieb, Deputy Assistant General Counsel; Dr. Dennis J. McGrath, Chief, Division of Hazardous Substances, Office of Product Safety; Henry C. Verhulst, Director, Division of Poison Control, Office of Product Safety; and Dr. Edward J. Fairchild, Acting Director, Division of Safety Serv- ices, Office of Product Safety.. White, William V., Executive Director, National Commission on Dwyer, Hon. Florence P., a Representative in Congress from the State Fairchild, Dr. Edward J., Acting Director, Division of Safety Services, Weinstein, Dr. Howard, Associate Director, Office of Product Safety, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare: Résumé of injury reporting contract program con- ducted by the Office of Product Safety, Food and Drug Administra- tion, Consumer Protection and Environmental Health Service... White, William V., Executive Director, National Commission on Appendix 1.-Questionnaire on accident reporting submitted to Federal agencies by Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee.. Appendix 2.-Statement of Department of Housing and Urban Develop- ment, presented by James McCullough, Deputy to the Director of the Architectural Division, Federal Housing Administration. Appendix 3.-Statement of National Center for Health Statistics, Depart- ment of Health, Education, and Welfare, presented by Theodore Appendix 4.-Response of National Center for Health Statistics to sup- Appendix 5.-Statement of Bureau of the Budget, presented by Julius Shiskin, Assistant Director for Statistical Policy. Appendix 6.-Response of Bureau of the Budget to supplementary Appendix 7.-Statement of Bureau of Labor Statistics presented by Maurice Bresnahan, Acting Chief, Division of Industrial Safety, Office Appendix 10.-Statement of National Highway Safety Bureau, Depart- Page ment of Transportation_-_ 104 Appendix 11.-Statement of Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety, Department of Transportation___ 109 Appendix 12.-Estimates of injuries from consumer products, prepared for 112 Appendix 13.-Revised FHA standards for glass doors. 120 124 COLLECTION AND UTILIZATION OF ACCIDENT AND INJURY DATA THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 1969 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10:15 a.m., in room 2203, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. L. H. Fountain (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives L. H. Fountain, Florence P. Dwyer, and Clarence J. Brown. Also present: James R. Naughton, counsel and William H. Copenhaver, minority counsel. Mr. FOUNTAIN. Let the committee come to order. Under the rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Government Operations has responsibility for studying the operation of Government activities at all levels with respect to economy and efficiency. Today's hearing by the Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee is being conducted pursuant to that responsibility. The purpose of today's hearing is to take testimony concerning the adequacy of arrangements by Federal departments and agencies for collecting and utilizing accident and injury data. We are particularly concerned with arrangements for collecting and utilizing information relating to accidents and injuries occurring in and around the home or involving products and substances of a type ordinarily used in or around homes. A subcommittee hearing earlier this week disclosed that the Pesticides Regulation Division of the Department of Agriculture, which claimed its accident reporting system was working "very well," received reports on less than 200 pesticide poisonings annually, although it is known that there are at least 5,000 such poisonings each year and there is reason to believe that the total number may be as high as 50,000 annually. Our hearing today is for the purpose of examining the adequacy of accident and injury reporting arrangements of other Federal agencies responsible for regulation of products or otherwise interested in protecting the public from hazardous substances and products and preventing avoidable accidents and injuries. We expect to take testimony today from representatives of the National Commission on Product Safety, the Office of Product Safety of the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Center for Health Statistics, as well as other Federal agencies concerned with (1) reporting of accidents and injuries of the type usually occurring in or around the home. We have also arranged for representatives of agencies concerned with transportation and industrial accidents and injuries to be present on a standby basis in the event questions should arise in those areas. If time does not permit us to hear from all witnesses today, we will arrange for appropriate statements to be included in the record. We are very happy to have with us representatives of the National Commission on Product Safety as our first witnesses and we are glad to have you, Mr. William V. White, executive director, accompanied by Mr. Michael Lemov, general counsel, and Mr. Walter U. Johnson, chief of operations. I understand you have a prepared statement, Mr. White, and you may proceed at this time. STATEMENT OF WILLIAM V. WHITE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COMMISSION ON PRODUCT SAFETY; ACCOMPANIED BY MICHAEL R. LEMOV, GENERAL COUNSEL; AND WALTER U. JOHNSON, CHIEF OF OPERATIONS Mr. WHITE. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for inviting me to appear before you on behalf of the National Commission on Product Safety. The subject of your inquiry today is one in which we have a vital interest every day as we work on the assignment given us by Congress in Public Law 90-146 establishing the Commission. Congressional hearings with which many of you may be familiar were responsible for creation of this Commission. Those hearings revealed that hundreds of thousands of Americans each year are injured-and some are killed-by household products in common, everyday use in our homes. Yet when it came to actual figures as to the number of Americans hurt or killed by unreasonably hazardous household items, Congress had to settle for estimates. And we, too, are finding that there is no single, central place to go to determine who is getting hurt by what product and why. As you know, Congress empowered us to hold hearings, to obtain information from business and consumers, to publish information developed in our studies when it is in the public interest, and to assess the laws at all levels of government to ascertain how they protect consumers from hazardous household products. As you also know, we deal only with those products not presently under regulation by another Government agency. So we are excluded from looking into accidents related to pesticides, automobiles, firearms, food, drugs and cosmetics, and the like. But we have found, as members of this subcommittee have obviously discovered, that with rare exception the whole reporting system on product-related injuries and deaths is frequently hit or miss. There is no comprehensive collection of injury data-either nationally or locally-and such figures as are available are often plagued by obsolescence. |