Product Liability and Safety Engineer - Chervon North America

Summary of Responsibilities:

Legal and regulatory product compliance are important for Chervon’s stakeholders and brands. The Product Liability and Safety Engineer protects Chervon corporate interests by ensuring legal compliance and safety of our products.

Compliance areas include laws encompassing our products in North America such as hazardous materials, OSHA, recycling, and transportation.  Product Safety areas include alignment with our product certifications, namely UL, CSA, IEC, ANSI, and OPEI.  More critical is the identification of safety risks outside of the scope of existing standards and certifications to ensure the overall product risk is mitigated.

This role will interface with end users to understand any escalated product safety issues.  This task area involves an understanding of product liability, and insight into insurance company practices.  In some cases, travel to visit sites related to damage to property or personal injury may be necessary.

This role will also interface with retail and dealer customers to ensure their compliance and product safety needs are met.  This activity may include special requests for their own internal requirements or supporting compliance and safety cases related to their organizations.  More routine activities including the support of compliance records and product set-up is required.

Product Safety reviews for select products are expected in the pre-production phase of a new product introduction.  This task area involves identification of safety risk before the product introduction.  Close coordination is required with the R&D, product marketing, and project management functions to make the product a success.

Responsibilities:

• Battery recycling program leadership.  Work with recycling partners to ensure compliance, review contracts, support payments, and record and present metrics.
• Hazardous material support.  At the product level, apply knowledge of known regulatory standards such as Proposition 65, to ensure compliance and provide compliance information to external customers.
• Safety escalation ownership.  Manage safety escalations.  Track safety cases from initial reporting through conclusion.  Maintain tracking document and work with cross-functional teams to drive decisions related to product disposition and corrective actions.
• Root cause analysis and corrective actions.  Work along side Quality team for investigations related to safety cases to identify root causes and support implementation of corrective actions.
• Failure Mode Analysis.  Support review of physical products that are the subject of safety or damage to property cases.  Create failure mode reporting of the subject Chervon items, and in some cases, provide additional reporting relating to the customer use and environment for which the product(s) were used.  Attend on-site investigations as needed.
• Retail and Dealer safety escalation support.  Become key contact for retail and dealer accounts for escalations.  Provide deliverables for their own internal safety escalation process.
• PTI and OPEI Support.  Become key Chervon member within Power Tool Institute and Outdoor Power Equipment Institute trade groups.  Represent Chervon’s interests as a voice in these trade groups and serve on working groups and sub-committees most relevant to those interests.
• Product safety reviews.  Apply safety risk analysis for select high risk products.  Provide report and follow through until product launch.
• Packaging and logistics support.  Work alongside packaging and logistics team to understand compliance topics, particularly related to batteries.  Work on select projects to support compliance topics.
• Safety testing.  Support the development of test methods related to product safety.  Work along Quality and Test Lab team members to develop test fixtures when needed.
• Expert witness.  It is possible that this role represents Chervon in a court of law in cases of product liability.
• Take ownership of CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) reporting for escalated safety cases and respond to public complaints.

Competencies

• Knowledge of regulatory standards, and product certifications.  Strong knowledge and experience with UL standards preferred.
• Strong understanding of product liability in powered products.
• Understanding of hazardous material compliance with respect to consumer products
• Continuous improvement mindset.
• Able to think strategically, yet focus on narrow problems to be solved.
• Comfortable using power tools and outdoor power equipment
• Willing to get hands dirty.
• Independent.  Able to act without direction.
• Strong understanding of project management and employs that knowledge to build schedules, manage costs, identify risks, and effectively communicate status.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong problem-solving/Root Cause Analysis skills.
• Strong test development competency, including test methods and test equipment
• Knowledge of the tool industry.
• Basic knowledge of manufacturing processes; plastic injection molding, die casting, machining, and metal stamping.
• Comprehensive understanding of GD&T and SPC (statistical process control).
• Familiar with quality tools and procedures.
• Strong statistical capability and Design of Experiments knowledge.
• Use of fishbones/Ishikawa, pareto charts, 8-D, control plans, etc.
• Advance knowledge of Reliability and Life Data Analysis
• Excellent computer literacy; Microsoft Office; Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
• Ability to objectively review and qualify data using statistics, while understanding subjective factors.
• Knowledge of metrology and versed in material science.
• Working knowledge of modern power electronics, IOT and firmware desired along with methods related to failure analysis and validation in those areas.

Supervisory Responsibility

This role does not currently demand direct reports.

Work Environment

This job operates in a professional office as well as travel to China, and possible off-site visits for safety and damage to property claims.

Travel

This position requires up to 15% travel; some international.

Required Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• The ideal candidate will have 5-7 years of experience with consumer product safety and compliance. Tool industry knowledge and new product development experience preferred.
• This position requires approximately 15%travel; some international.

Salary Range:
$90,000 to $120,000

About Our Working Environment

Chervon North America operates in a casual and fun environment. We offer a very competitive benefits package including health, dental, vision, short/long-term disability, life insurance, 401(k) and a competitive time off program.

Chervon North America is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce. We consider all applicants for employment without regard to race, age, religion, color, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, gender, pregnancy, military status, order of protection status, transgender status, genetic information, or any other category protected by law.

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