Posts

Dementia product design

Well-designed products can help people living with dementia

Imagine if, when you are preparing a meal, you can’t distinguish a plate from the bench that it’s sitting on. Or you go to take a sip of juice, only to realise too late that it’s scalding hot tea. People living with dementia can’t…
Dementia design podcast

Podcast interview with Graeme Samuel AC, Chair of Dementia Australia

Among his many roles, Graeme Samuel is a Professorial Fellow at Monash University’s Business School, and School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine. I worked at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) when Graeme…
Button battery gold star

Button batteries – what good businesses are doing

Despite some good efforts, the rate of serious injuries in Australia from kids swallowing button batteries is not going down. Some estimates are at one per month, which is a shocking statistic. In my blog article: Button batteries -…
3D printing

Product safety podcast – Interview with Jeremy Opperer

Welcome to this Maze podcast. I’m Gail Greatorex of Product Safety Solutions and this is an interview I did with Dr Jeremy Opperer from Exponent in the UK while we were attending International Product Safety Week in Brussels last November. Jeremy…
Furniture tip-over prevention

New guide to prevent toppling furniture and TV injuries

Twin boys dresser rescue

Furniture tip-over real life video

Real life example - the need to anchor furniture A new video has gone viral showing twin toddlers in the USA climbing on an unanchored chest of drawers. The footage is extraordinary for several reasons: that it was all captured…
3D printing legal

Legal aspects of 3D printing

I met Angela Daly as a fellow speaker at the Inside 3D Printing Conference in Melbourne 2015. She had been exploring some of the non-technical aspects of 3D printing and has now published a new book that examines the topic from a number…
3D printing

Radio interview on 3D printing

Used with the permission of ABC RN Life Matters ABC Radio National - Life Matters: He 3D printed a gun – what happened next? In November 2015 I was on the ABC Radio National program, Life Matters talking about 3D printing and product…
ISO torch

Product safety guidance from ISO

The International Standards Organisation (ISO) publishes standards on a wide range of topics, including consumer product safety. You may be aware, for example, of ISO standard 8124 for children’s toys. But ISO also publishes a range…
3D printer safety action

3D Printing – Call for action on product safety

Consumer level 3D printers are now available and increasingly affordable. Officeworks for instance sells The Cube printer for under $700 in Australia. Prices overseas are even cheaper and generally on a downward trend. This means that people…