Industry & business associations

Industry and business associations exist for many different sectors of the consumer product market. They include those that make and sell products as well as those that provide products through a service, such as hospitality and child care facilities. Industry and business associations can benefit their members through effective policies and systems.

These associations have the opportunity to play a very important role in product safety through their leadership, advocacy and communication activities.

On this page:

• Product safety in your sector
• Provide your members with relevant information, such as:
• Train and work with members
• Train and work with suppliers
• Educate and inform consumers
• Work with other organisations
• Have a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program
• Keep everyone posted
• Online
• Print publications
• Media
• Face-to-face
• Find industry and business associations
• Tips, myths and FAQs

Product safety in your sector

As an association, there are key steps you can take to achieve product safety in your sector.

Provide your members with relevant information, such as:

• information and updates on regulation
• regulators’ enforcement activities. 
• product hazard reports 
• design advice
• case examples to encourage compliance with safety standards and regulations.

Provide shared access to research and strategies

Give your members shared access to product and/or industry specific safety research and product safety strategies so everyone can see details of new information at the same time.

Promotional activities

Conduct activities to promote product safety across your sector.  These could include sponsoring education campaigns or supporting relevant community groups.

Train and work with members

• Provide product safety advice and training to your members. 
• Help members improve their understanding of safe design and marketing. 
• Work with members to improve their ability to manage risks. 
• Encourage members to plan ahead for recalls—a recall crisis can affect your whole sector. 
• Address any product safety issues with individual members and work with them to achieve compliance.

You can assist with and take part in discussions between regulators and members, especially when regulators are making important decisions about products and/or services. You can also deal with key product safety players to represent your members’ interests, such as: 

• governments 
• safety standards writers 
• consumer groups.

It is important that as many groups as possible work together to achieve product safety for the whole community.

Train and work with suppliers

Provide product safety guidance and training to your industry’s suppliers.

Educate and inform consumers

Use campaigns and informative materials to educate consumers about how they can use your industry’s products safely. Specifically, you can:

• take proactive steps to alert consumers and the wider community to particular hazards and the situations they might happen in
• provide safety tips to help people avoid these hazards.

Lead or sponsor research activities that improve the safety of products and services in your industry.

Work with other organisations

Work in partnership with associations and organisations that have similar product safety concerns and objectives.

Have a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs encourage companies to consider the impact of their activities on the community and society in general. Product safety is part of CSR. As an association, you can: 

• promote your own CSR program, and 
• assist your members to understand the principles and benefits of CSR.

Keep everyone posted

Look for opportunities to alert people to product safety hazards on behalf of your industry and members. You can do this in your online, print, media and face-to-face communications.

Online

On your association’s and members’ websites:

• include links to this website and the Product Safety Recalls Australia website 
• feature product safety 
• subscribe to this website for news on products related to your sector, so that you can alert your members and/or consumers to any important changes.

Print publications

Prepare and send informational flyers to others in your supply chain, such as retailers.

Media

Issue media releases to promote product safety at times of particular risk, such as water safety in summer for the pool and pool accessory industries.

Face-to-face

• Provide product safety training for your and members’ marketing, advertising and communications staff 
• Include product safety in information and training for trade customers 
• Work with government consumer agencies to promote consumer safety 
• Promote product safety at your trade and public expos.

Find industry and business associations

Businesses and consumers can check the product safety directory on this website or visit business.gov.au for relevant associations.

Tips, myths and FAQs

For all business related tips, view Business focused tips.

For all business related myths, view Business focused myths.

For all business related FAQs, view Business focused FAQs.