Editorial Contact:
Kate Achelpohl
PMMI Director, Member Communications
Tel: (703) 516-0671
E-mail: kachelpohl@pmmi.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Product Liability & Need for Risk Assessment Taking Center Stage at Safety Conference
Procter & Gamble on hand with talk on safety, purchasing & NRTL

World class safety, productivity and quality require common leadership, organizational and operational elements, says Fred Hayes, director of technical services, PMMI.

Hayes will lead PMMI’s upcoming Safety Conference, a two-day event near Chicago’s O’Hare Airport in Rosemont, Ill., July 16–17. The conference will focus on packaging machinery manufacturing in today’s product liability environment and highlight machinery buyers' safety requirements.

“The European Union requires a risk assessment, and leading U.S. firms such as Procter & Gamble are making similar demands without a regulatory requirement,” said Hayes.

Procter & Gamble, which recently announced it will only purchase machinery that has met Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories (NRTL) requirements, will discuss its new requirements in a special presentation.

Safety Conference sessions will also cover the legal perspectives of risk assessment and harmonization with ISO standards relative to product liability litigation; potential pitfalls of legacy equipment; warning, documentation and training; and an overview of state and federal product liability law.

“Not having a full understanding of the product liability environment puts your company at a serious risk,” said Hayes. “Engineers and managers who have responsibilities for packaging machinery/lines, line integrators, safety and health, productivity and global deployment issues — they all need to be there.”

Tort reforms and a mock deposition are also on the agenda:“If you haven’t had to defend your product in court in the last year or so, you’ll be in a whole new world," Hayes said.

“Tort reforms over the past several years have resulted in big changes in how you defend your company in a liability suit.” he added. “You need to understand today’s process and know what to do if you’re sued, so you don’t have to scramble if you do go to court.”

The 2008 PMMI Safety Conference is designed for users of packaging machinery, machinery manufacturers, packaging-related converting machinery manufacturers, integrators, rebuilders, modifiers and used machinery distributors/resellers from the pharmaceutical, food and consumer products machinery sectors.

“Developing a corporate culture that supports safety, productivity and quality requires a strong management commitment, a sense of the priorities within the line organization, ongoing training, and effective communication and evaluation,” Hayes said. “That’s why it’s so important someone from your company attend this conference.”

The 2008 PMMI Safety Conference will be held at the Hyatt Rosemont July 16–17. Register for the Safety Conference online at PMMI.org/safety. For more information, contact Fred Hayes, PMMI director of technical services: fhayes@pmmi.org or 888.ASK.PMMI.

About PMMI
PMMI is a trade association with more than 550 member companies that manufacture packaging machinery and packaging-related converting machinery, commercially-available packaging machinery components, containers and materials in the United States and Canada. PMMI’s vision is to be the leading global resource for packaging, and its mission is to improve and promote members’ abilities to succeed in a global marketplace. PMMI organizes the PACK EXPO trade shows: PACK EXPO International, PACK EXPO Las Vegas and EXPO PACK México. Learn more about PMMI at pmmi.org.