On the other hand, Innovation can take a hit if you let it by building a safety and quality bureaucracy, as some died-in-the-wool Safety/QA experts would have you do. But that is so-o-o 70's and 80's. Most product safety programs can be short and sweet, but accurate, if everyone plays a part and inculcates 'safety thinking' into their daily activities.

Sometimes regulation actually stimulates innovation, since a company may need to come up with new ways to make a product comply for cost reasons.

In my experience, product safety has had little correlation to product innovation.

In the United States a product's liability action may be brought, under state law, for express or implied breach of warranty, misrepresentation and negligence. Under the theory of strict liability¹⁵, a lawsuit may be initiated on the grounds of manufacturing and design defects as well as poor and inadequate warning instructions. While the efficacy of the various regulating agencies is questioned by some, you can still get hit if you make claims that are fraudulent or wrong and for unsafe designs. It would be extremely difficult and all consuming to try and steer your way through the purported 'ineffectiveness tunnels' of the regulatory agencies so as to avoid complying.

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¹⁵ "The theory of strict liability essentially imposes liability as a risk of doing business. When a manufacturer, assembler, wholesaler, or retailer places a defective or unreasonably dangerous product in the marketplace and that product causes an injury, the manufacturer, assembler, wholesaler, or retailer may be strictly liable for such injury. Under this theory of law the plaintiff must prove that: 1) the product was defective and unreasonably dangerous, 2) the defect existed at the time the product left the defendant's control, 3) the defect caused the harm, and 4) the harm is appropriately assignable to the identified defect. Thus, the emphasis on responsibility for product safety has shifted from the consumer to the manufacturer of products." (See a legal advisor for more specific detail.)