Knowing the importance of product safety, Kids In Danger (KID, http://kidsindanger.org) embarked on a project to provide developers of children’s products with a free online tool to help create a safety mindset when embarking on new product development or a new marketing campaign.

The KID Design Safety Toolkit, which launched in July 2022, is a new online course geared towards entrepreneurs and businesses that create children’s products. The course, which is free of charge, provides children’s product developers and marketers with the information and tools they need to design, develop, and market products more safely, and is a much-needed resource in the children’s products market. The online course was driven by feedback from entrepreneurs and is the result of several years of work from a cross-functional team of experts in children’s products across all facets of development, from product design to research, safety, testing, legal, marketing and more.

“The KID Design Safety Toolkit gives product designers and makers the valuable knowledge KID has gained over 20 years of working to make children’s products safer, along with contributions from other product safety experts,” stated Nancy Cowles, Executive Director of KID. “We believe this focus on real world use will help save lives and prevent injuries.”

While no one sets out to design a product that puts our most vulnerable consumers—infants and children—at risk, each year tens of thousands of kids are injured and hundreds die in incidents associated with infant and children’s products. Many entrepreneurs and organizations have great ideas or a clear vision of the need from their own experiences but aren’t skilled in product safety or child development. On top of that, they may not have all the resources needed to ensure product safety once their products are in the home and in real-world use.

“Helping new entrepreneurs and selling partners gain the knowledge and knowhow they need to develop and sell safe products benefits all consumers,” said Mark Fellin, Amazon’s Head of Product Trust & Regulatory Compliance. “We are thrilled to work with Kids In Danger to launch this educational Toolkit that can be accessed remotely by anyone looking to enhance the safety of their products.”

The Toolkit is comprised of expert panel discussions, educational videos and podcasts, and more, and includes information that goes beyond regulatory requirements, specifically:

• Understanding consumer behavior—and designing to ensure safety in real-world use
• What can happen if you do not keep the end user in mind
• Designing and manufacturing to encourage intuitive and safe use
• The role of market research—and how to incorporate that at any budget level
• Marketing with an eye toward safety
• Age grading and developmental considerations

“The KID Design Safety Toolkit takes our mission of protecting children one step further by preventing product safety issues at the beginning of concept design, and helps small businesses and entrepreneurs new to developing children’s products understand the impact of real-world situations on their product’s safety,” said Shehnaz Safiuddin, KID Design Safety Task Group Chairperson.

Check-out the toolkit at KID Design Safety Toolkit.