U.S. engineering psychologist makes the call on toy safety

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

(HealthDay News) -- Have you ever wondered, when looking at the recommended age label on a child's toy, whether that recommendation is based on real research or just pulled from thin air?

Then, meet Jonathan Midgett.

He's a 38-year-old engineering psychologist with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and a large part of his job involves determining whether the age label on a product's packaging is appropriate or not.

"I have to think about how children play, and consider who the toy is going to appeal to versus who the toy is targeted for," Midgett said.

He gets the toys he reviews from field investigators who pick them up from toy stores and companies -- even from docks when an overseas shipment comes in. "They sample about a dozen and send them to the laboratory," Midgett said.

Midgett then breaks the toy out and plays with it.

Take, for example, a fishing game involving a plastic rod with a magnet on a string, and plastic fish with embedded magnets that are scattered on the floor.

The game seems deceptively simple. "The magnets make it easier for a kid to actually have some success with the game," he said. "You swing the line on the floor and the little plastic fish snaps onto the magnet."

But how easy would it be for a 4-year-old, versus a 3-year old?

"Fishing games, like many role-playing games, are good for younger children. That's the developmental stage the child is at," Midgett said. "At the same time, it's a complicated game. It requires dexterity to move the line around and attract a fish."

Midgett also considers how well a toy is built. For example, the magnets need to be embedded tightly in the fish and pole, because they can prove a health hazard if the child swallows them.

Midgett weighs his observations against a database of previous age determinations, and a guideline booklet more than 300 pages long. If he disagrees with the age label, the toy is flagged and the company is told it will have to change its packaging.

It's a tough call to make, especially since Midgett and his colleagues don't want to limit kids to toys that will be yawn-inducing.

"If I find a really fun toy that's very poorly made, I know there are going to be a lot of kids playing with it if it gets through, and a lot of kids could get hurt," he said. "On the other hand, if you make everything appropriate to age 2, you're going to have a lot of bored 3-year-olds out there."

Midgett is also called upon to assess toys that have harmed children. "You have to be a detective and determine how a child used a toy in a way that caused them harm," he said of that part of the job.

He told of a model rocket that had injured a number of kids. It turned out that the compressed-air rocket came with an air supply tube that came coiled in the package.

"The kids couldn't get it straightened out, and it would make the launch pad unstable," Midgett said. "The pad would tilt and the rocket would launch and hit them." The company changed the tube, and the rocket was able to stay on the market with no further injuries.

"I'm most satisfied knowing that I'm having an impact on a child's life," he said. "I get to do something every day to protect someone from getting hurt. It's really rewarding to know I've been on the front lines of preventing agony and tears."

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