Shareware Overload Trio 2/Shareware Overload Trio Volume 2 (Chestnut CD-ROM).ISO/dir33/csacat94.zip/PLUS.TXT

Text File | 1994-04-09 | 18KB | 328 lines

New Guideline Promotes Truthful Environmental Labelling

The marketplace has seen an explosion in recent years of  products that claim
to be  green or less harmful to the environment in some way. In 1989, 24
products in the U.S. claimed to be green; by 1990, there were over 600
products; by 1994, green products are expected to be an $8.8 billion business.

But can we always understand or trust the information found on the labels of
such products? What, for example, are we to make of catch-all claims such as
environmentally friendly or   non-polluting? And is it worth stating that a
bottle is  recyclable if collection or drop-off facilities for recycling are
not available in the community where the product is sold?

Marketplace Confusion Claims that seem to be specific and based on facts may
also prove to be misleading. The statement  contains no CFCs
[chlorofluorocarbons] may appear on a product that is forbidden by law to
contain CFCs. Or a claim may be trivial in relation to a products overall
environmental impact. For example, a household cleaning product with a high
proportion of toxic, nonbiodegradable ingredients and a small percentage of
biodegradable surfactant may carry a label stating that it is  made with
biodegradable surfactants.

Such vague and misleading labelling tends to breed cynicism among consumers.
Many consumers who would like to support environmentally responsible products
may turn a blind eye to all environmental claims, including the responsible
ones. This lack of support may in turn discourage manufacturers from investing
in the design and development of new or environmentally improved products.

A Tool for Both Industry and Consumers CSA has recently published a Guideline
on Environmental Labelling (Z761-93) that takes aim at clearing  up this
marketplace confusion.  This Guideline is one in a series of voluntary
guidelines on environmental management   that   are   being   developed   by
CSA   with   the  participation  of   representatives   from  industry,
government, and the public. The purpose of the Z761 Guideline is to help
manufacturers and advertisers  make honest  and  credible  environmental
claims  and  so  encourage  consumers  to keep  the environment  in mind when
they  shop.  This in turn will stimulate the  development  of more products
that  are less  damaging to  the environment. In the long run,  this  will
help  reduce the environmental  burdens  and impacts associated with the
consumption of goods.

The Guideline deals with the presentation of environmental claims on product
and package labels.   It provides definitions and rules for the use of
specific terms (such as  recyclable,  reusable/refillable,   compostable and
degradable); symbols such as the  chasing arrows or Mobius Loop associated
with recycling are also covered.  The Guideline lists as well sources of test
methods that can be used to verify environmental claims. This list includes
CSA standards that provide procedures for determining levels of water and
energy efficiency.

Beyond Minimum Compliance with the Law The CSA Guideline goes a step beyond an
earlier document, Guiding Principles for Environmental Labelling and
Advertising. This document was developed by Consumer and Corporate Affairs
Canada (now a part of Industry Canada) as a guide to complying with federal
laws governing misleading advertising and labelling. While the CSA Guideline
is harmonized with this document, it is concerned to give more precise
instruction to companies who want to achieve more than minimum compliance with
the law.  To that end, the Guideline gives more detail on specific types of
environmental claims, such as degradability and resource conservation (i.e.,
water and energy use). By listing test methods, it also steers manufacturers
towards substantiating environmental claims scientifically.

A further aim is to promote uniformity in environmental labelling to assist
consumers.

 The CSA Guideline helps users supply more detail on their labels and present
information in a uniform format, explains Jenny Hillard, a Consumer and
Environmental Consultant and a former Provincial President of the Consumers
Association of Canada.  This will allow consumers who take the trouble to
educate themselves a little on environmental matters to understand what an
environmental claim means.

Dos and Donts of Environmental Labelling The following are examples of the
advice found in CSAs Guideline on Environmental Labelling.

∙General Claims: Claims that broadly imply that a product is beneficial or
benign to the environment should not be used. This applies to claims such as
environmentally safe,  environmentally friendly,  earth friendly,  non-
polluting,  and  green.

∙  Truthful and Specific Information: Claims should avoid exaggerating the
extent of  the environmental impact reduction achieved by a particular product
characteristic or the product as a whole. The information provided should
specify the precise nature of the impact reduction. If, for example, a
manufacturer has eliminated the use of an ozone-damaging substance such as
trichloroethane, the label may say  contains no trichloroethane. But this fact
alone does not justify making the broader claim that the product  does not
damage the ozone layer.

∙Clear and Unambiguous Claims: It should be clear whether a claim applies only
to the product or only to the packaging.

∙ Recyclability: Claims must be relevant to the geographic region in which a
product is sold. The unqualified claim  recyclable should only be made where
recycling facilities are available to 100 per cent of the community in which
the product is marketed. A qualified claim,  recyclable where facilities
exist, is acceptable, but only if recycling facilities are available to a
reasonable percentage of the population. The Z761 Guideline adopts the level
of 33 per cent set by the National Packaging Coalition Task Force.

∙ Degradability: The  claim  of  degradability  should  not  be made if the
product is likely   to   end   up   in   a   landfill   site   where   the
conditions  are  not  conducive to degradation.

∙ Verification of Claims: Claims must be verifiable. Claims should be
substantiated by objectively conducted and widely accepted tests, research,
and/or analysis.



Reasons to Shop with the Environment in Mind If youre in any doubt about the
need to choose products with reduced packaging or other characteristics that
spare the earths resources, ponder these striking statistics:

∙Canada is the worlds biggest generator of waste per capita, beating out the
U.S., the U.K., West Germany, Japan and the Netherlands.

∙Each Canadian produces 1.7 kilograms (about 4 pounds) of garbage per day,
which adds up to nearly a tonne a year.  A convoy of garbage trucks carrying
the countrys annual waste would stretch bumper-to-bumper from the Atlantic to
the Pacific.

∙The amount of waste paper dumped every day worldwide would fill 550
supertankers.

∙An estimated 2,800,000,000 trees are felled each year around the world.



Residential Garage Door Openers Follow the Instruction Manual to Ensure your
Familys Safety

 Read the instruction manual is sound advice for users of all types of
electrical equipment. If you own a garage door operator (which is often called
an automatic garage door opener), this advice is especially important. Since a
garage door is the largest moving part in your home, a garage door controlled
by a door operator exerts a powerful force. This force can prove deadly if a
person is struck or trapped by a closing door. Proper installation, operation,
and maintenance of the door and door  operator are essential.

Here are some precautions you should take to guard  against potential hazards.

∙Read and follow  all safety, maintenance, and testing instructions in your
owners manual. If you dont have one, contact the manufacturer of the door
operator for a copy of the manual that applies to your particular model.

∙Attach the warning labels that come with your unit as directed, next to the
wall control and on the inside of the garage door.

∙Operate the remote control only when the garage door is in your line of vision
and there are no people or  objects around it. If you have a solid, one-piece
door that swings out when it opens and you are operating the pushbutton wall
control inside your garage,  take particular care to ensure that no one is
standing outside the garage in the path of the opening door.

∙No one, child or adult alike, should stand or walk in the path of a moving
door.

∙Test the door and door operator following the procedures provided in your
instruction manual. Generally, manuals advise testing the auto-reverse safety
mechanism once a month or after any repairs or adjustments have been made.

∙Keep garage doors properly balanced. A properly balanced door, along with the
door operator, exerts as little as 30 pounds of force when the door closes,
while one that is not balanced can exert up to 250 pounds of force. Bear in
mind that if a door does not reverse readily, the force setting of the door
operator may be set too high. People sometimes crank up the force setting to
compensate for a sticky or unbalanced door, or to accommodate seasonal
conditions such as snow and ice that build up beneath the door. This can be a
dangerous practice. While increasing the force may prevent premature
reversing, it will also impair or prevent the functioning of the auto-reverse
protection feature. A qualified person should adjust the force sensitivity
according to the door operator instruction manual.

Teach Children Not to Play  Beat the Door Explain to children how dangerous it
is to try to slip under the door when it is closing. Never let children
operate or play with the door operators remote controls. The remote control
should be kept out of the reach of children. As specified in the CSA standard
described below, the pushbutton wall control should also be located out of the
reach of small children, at a minimum height of 1.53 metres (5 feet), and away
from all moving parts.

∙Be sure you know where the emergency release mechanism is and how to use it.

Examine the garage door springs, cables, rollers, pulleys, and other door
hardware periodically. If you spot signs of wear, dont attempt to fix these
parts yourself, but have a qualified service person make repairs.

Lubricate the rollers and hinges of the garage door periodically according to
the instructions in your manual.

New Safety Devices Boost Entrapment Protection Since 1984, garage door
operators sold in Canada have been required  to have a mechanism that causes
the door to reverse direction automatically within two seconds of striking an
object in its path. Alternatively, the construction can be such that
continuous pressure on a control is required to lower the door: i.e., a person
would have to maintain a constant pressure on the control to get the door to
close. In 1989, a further test was added to ensure that the door would retract
readily if it were to become jammed; once the button is pushed to close the
door, the unit must automatically reverse if it does not reach the bottom of
its travel within 30 seconds.

As of January 31, 1994, all residential garage door operators certified by CSA
must meet the safety requirements of the CSA standard, Operators and Systems
of Doors, Gates, Draperies, and Louvres  (CAN/CSA-C22.2 No. 247-92). Besides
covering residential garage door operators, this standard  provides
requirements for commercial vehicular automatic doors and complete doors,
gates and other assemblies that include electrically powered opening and
closing devices.

This standard adds a new requirement for such units to have a photoelectric
(infrared) sensor that automatically causes the door to open if the photocell
beam is broken. A child or animal trying to duck under the door as it comes
down, for example, will break the beam, and the door will be raised
automatically. If something or someone is in the path of the door when the
control button is pushed, the door will not even start to move downward.
Alternatively, units may be equipped with a door edge sensor, similar to those
found in elevators, which cause the door to retract immediately on contact
with an obstruction.

These new devices do not replace the earlier requirement for the auto-reverse
mechanism; they become the primary safety mechanisms for sensing obstructions,
while the older automatic reversal system serves as a backup.

Homeowners should definitely replace a garage door operator that lacks the
basic auto-reverse safety feature.  If you have a unit with the auto-reverse
feature, you may want to consider purchasing a photoelectric or door edge
sensor that can be added as an accessory safety device to your existing
system. Check with a garage door operator dealer or manufacturer for further
information.



More Safety Tips for Garages and Driveways

∙Keep all chemicals and paints tightly sealed.

∙If you have young children, make sure harmful chemicals and tools are stored
out of their reach, on a high shelf or in a locked box or cupboard. Garden
equipment can be concealed with a heavy tarp, and ignition keys to power
lawnmowers should be kept in a safe place. You may also want to consider
purchasing special locks that are available to prevent power tools such as
drills and saws and electric lawnmowers from being plugged in.

∙As part of your spring cleaning, its a good idea to check garages and tool
sheds for old cleaning products, paints, and pesticides. Since these items are
hazardous to the environment, call your municipality or local recycling
council to find out how to dispose of these products.

Driveways Before backing out of the garage, always check to see that there are
∙no children or childrens toys in the driveway or under the car.

∙Lock your car doors when parked to prevent children from playing in the car.

∙Keep the driveway free of oil, antifreeze, and gasoline spots.



Consumer News & Views

By Bernice Browne CSA Manager Consumer Services

The United Nations has declared 1994 the  Year of the Family. CSA contributes
to the safety and well-being of families daily through its standards
development and certification and testing programs.

CSA Programs Support Year of the Family CSA has produced standards in a number
of fields; related certification programs for many of these standards have led
to the CSA Mark appearing on a wide variety of products that you may purchase.
Some CSA standards development areas that have an impact on the family
include:

∙Health Care Technology (e.g., recloseable child resistant packages);
∙Environmental Technology (e.g., Guideline on Environmental Labelling); Sports
∙and Recreational Equipment (e.g., cycling helmets and childrens playspaces and
∙equipment); Electrical/Electronics (e.g., consumer products/appliances);
∙Construction (e.g., plumbing products); Energy (e.g., heat pumps); and

∙Transportation (e.g., school buses).

Share Your Experience CSA operates not only in Canada but internationally as
well, and we have readers of this publication in many countries. If any
readers have experienced problems with consumer products such as electrical
and sports equipment, please let us know details about the product and nature
of the problem. Please write to us at the address at the end of this article.
Thank you in advance for your help!

International Consumer Product Health and Safety The new International
Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization provides a forum for the
sharing of information between product safety professionals worldwide. This
organization will focus on fostering uniformity/harmony in aspects of product
regulation; the electronic exchange of consumer product data;  public
awareness of injury prevention; the communication to consumers of information
about the proper use of products; and cooperation in identifying emerging
safety issues.

Consumer Product Safety and CSA Advisory Panel Recommendations CSA's five
volunteer Advisory Panels provide regional end-user input to standards and
other CSA activities, and their efforts assist in improving product safety.

CSA Advisory Panels recently discussed consumer product safety and recommended
universal uniformity in classifying and coding product-related injuries. It
was felt that a standard classification system for product and related injury
data collection would make it easier to identify the causes of injuries and
develop potential solutions.

Another Panel discussed plumbing standards at its recent meeting and adopted
many recommendations in the areas of health, water conservation, performance,
and users with special needs.

The Winnipeg Panel provided input to CSAs Guideline on Office Ergonomics,
which is being updated.  The Panel requested the following: that the Guideline
include a comprehensive chapter on repetitive strain injuries (RSI); that,
where appropriate, the most stringent components of standards be adopted
during the harmonization of standards with those of other countries or with
international guidelines to ensure better protection for all workers; and that
all sections of the Guideline stress the need for employee involvement
in addressing ergonomics issues and solutions.

Instruction Manuals In our previous issue (Winter 1993) we included a survey to
request information about your experiences with product instruction manuals
for users.  We would like to thank everyone who responded.  Preliminary
results indicate that many consumers have problems understanding the manuals:
instructions are needed that are more user-friendly, readable, written in
plain language, and furnished with clear examples of assembly, parts, etc.

CSA Consumer Services 178 Rexdale Blvd. Rexdale, ON M9W 1R3