This week, the United States Justice Department and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) filed a civil enforcement action against Stanley Black & Decker. The report states that the company has allegedly violated the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) by failing to report potential defects or safety risks of two types of SBD products.
Affected Products
The first product type named in the report is utility bars, which SBD began manufacturing in late 2015. The claim alleges that soon after, “[Stanley Black & Decker] began receiving numerous reports directly from consumers and through a national retailer that the bars had broken unexpectedly during use, snapping back at the users and in some cases causing serious injuries.”
The company allegedly failed to report this information until May 2019, almost four years later.
The other product type of concern is miter saws. The CPSC report states, “Between 2019 and 2022, Black & Decker received hundreds of reports of its miter saws’ rear protective guards and plastic deflectors breaking, including reports of injuries such as lacerations to consumers’ faces and fingers.”
It’s reported that SBD allegedly did not report this information until June 2022.
CPSA Violation – What’s Being Done?
According to the CPSA, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of consumer products are required to immediately report a hazardous defect that could create a substantial product hazard or create an unreasonable risk of injury or death to the CPSC.
By not reporting on these issues as soon as they discovered them, the CPSC alleges that Stanley Black & Decker has violated the CPSA.
Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division stated this in regard to the violation:
“The Justice Department, together with CPSC, is committed to enforcing consumer protection statutes protecting Americans from hazardous products. Companies must report safety issues in consumer products immediately, as the law requires, to prevent unnecessary injury or death.”
The civil enforcement against Stanley Black & Decker is intended to “protect consumers,” says CPSA Acting Chairman Peter A. Feldman. “We will not hesitate to use the full weight of our authorities, especially when dealing with repeat offenders.”
This Justice Department complaint seeks monetary civil penalties and injunctive relief, intended to prevent the company from engaging in future CPSA violations.
What Should You Do?
As of right now, we’re not aware of any active recalls for any of the utility bar products mentioned in the CPSC report. There was a widespread DeWalt miter saw recall in 2022 affecting over 1.2 million tools, however.
If you use a Stanley Black & Decker utility bar or miter saw, we advise exercising extreme caution regarding the issues related to the civil enforcement action.
At the time of writing, Stanley Black & Decker hasn’t released a statement regarding the matter.
