The point to understand is the emphasis on "employments performed in a workplace". Anyone employed to do a job must be protected. This includes plumbers and electricians working in your house or office building, ice cream servers at the local ice cream parlor, and the mechanic working on your car. It thus pertains to the situation, equipment and components used in the 'employment' activity. Other regulations cover the safety aspects of, for example, the wire in your building (NEC), the ice cream you eat (FDA) and automobile you drive (DOT) and the workers' cell phones (FCC). So, no matter how you look at it, fair or not, OSHA reigns almost everywhere people work, and where OSHA doesn't reign, other regulations most likely do.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission⁴ (CPSC) is the federal regulatory agency created by Congress in the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA). In that law, Congress directed the Commission to:

"...protect the public against unreasonable risks of injuries and deaths associated with consumer products." The Act states: "...For purposes of this Act (1) the term 'consumer product' means any article or component part thereof, produced or distributed (i) for sale to a consumer for use in or around a permanent or temporary household or residence, a school, in recreation, or otherwise, or (ii) for the personal use, consumption, or enjoyment of a consumer in or around a permanent or temporary household or residence, a school, in recreation, or otherwise..."

The CPSA covers about 15,000 types of consumer products used in the home, schools, and recreation. Examples include toys, clothing, household electrical appliances, furniture, and playground and sports equipment. It does not regulate on-road motor vehicles, boats, aircraft, food, drugs, cosmetics, pesticides, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and medical devices, which are covered by other CFR established regulatory bodies.

The CPSA covers every company, regardless of how few employees it has or how few hours a week it operates, that manufactures, imports, distributes, or sells any type of consumer product covered by any law the CPSA administers.