According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) the following Product Recall Checklist is designed to help firms navigate the recall process. Not all items on this list will apply in all situations. Review this product recall checklist to check your recall readiness.

Whether initiating a recall or developing a mock recall plan, this product recall checklist would apply.

Step 1: Initiating a Recall

  1. Report to CPSC if you have a reporting obligation
  2. Stop production
  3. Identify affected UPC, date codes, and model numbers
  4. Isolate inventory
  5. Notify distribution chain to stop sale and isolate products
  6. Contact recipients of any in‐transit shipments of products
  7. Determine remedy (full refund, repair, or replacement)
  8. Test replacement or repair
  9. Redesign future production to eliminate hazard
  10. Enhance quality control measures
  11. Change model/serial numbers of redesigned product
  12. Add a permanent mark or new permanent labeling to distinguish reworked products from defective products
  13. Relabel packaging of reworked products to distinguish from defective products
  14. Draft a reverse logistics plan
  15. Determine how returns will be processed at all levels of distribution

Step 2: Recall Notice Documents and Related Items

  1. Establish a Toll free number
  2. Joint Press Release
  3. Social Media Plan (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
  4. Link to recall information on Firm’s home page, recall information posted in Firm’s website
  5. Retail Notification/Poster
  6. Recall Hotline Questions and Answers, Customer Service Script, and/or FAQ
  7. Individual letters to distribution chain (retailers, consumers, distributors)
  8. Envelopes marked with “Important Safety Message” or “Safety Recall” (in red ink) for recall notice mailing
  9. Contact information for all retailers, distributors, and consumers

Step 3: After the Public Announcement

  1. CPSC will monitor the recall by reviewing monthly reports, incoming complaints regarding the recall and products, and contacting retailers and/or consumers
  2. Report monthly on recall participation as required
  3. Keep recall notice information posted on the firm’s website indefinitely
  4. Maintain prominent link to recall information on homepage
  5. Keep retail notifications/posters up in retail locations for 120 days or longer
  6. Consult frequently with Compliance staff working with you on the recall to avoid problems

Tips for Success

  1. Designate a key company official to be the point of contact for handling details and escalated issues.
  2. Stay on message (with language agreed to in joint press release). Don’t blame the consumer.
  3. Support CPSC publicity efforts.
  4. Use creative methods to promote the recall via:
    • Pediatrician or specialty posters;
    • Paid advertising;
    • Paid Digital/Social media;
    • Online or broadcast ready videos;
    • Recall flyers in accessory parts;
    • Listserv emails & text messages to customers
    • Messages on credit card statements and bills; and,
    • Announcements to customers on catalog, loyalty program, warranty, and service inquiry lists.

*This was late updated by the CPCS on September 2021

If you need help with recall planning by developing a mock recall plan to test and determine your recall readiness, MockRecalls is here to help.

About Mock Recalls

MockRecalls is a mock recall planning, training and consulting program to test your recall readiness. We are purely focused on protecting your product investment by working with you to create a new recall plan or analyze your current recall plan and then put it through a mock recall or recall simulation test to insure you are prepared for a possible product recall. We use our on-demand SaaS based recall management platform that eliminates common mistakes manually conducting recalls, by automating the most tedious steps of a product recall. It is a simple to use platform that just focuses on handling product recalls quickly and efficiently. Through our mock recall training using our dedicated recall platform, companies can improve the recall process, increase response rates, and document and communicate with all stakeholders.

Our program can analyze your company’s readiness in many of the typical elements of the recall process including:

  • Initiation, investigation, and communication process
  • Recall working team and decision team composition and dynamics
  • Team roles and responsibilities
  • Process flow and lot traceability
  • And retrieval capability and effectiveness checks

Our recall simulation program is conducted as an escalating model using real product facts and potential issues, with multiple inputs such as consumer complaints, social media, FDA/USDA/local health department and law enforcement. Conducting a recall simulation will also allow the recall team and all involved personnel to become familiar with their responsibilities throughout the recall procedure. This gives them time to effectively communicate any concerns about the plan while the company isn’t dealing with the pressure of an actual recall.

Looking to test your product recall readiness across your organization? MockRecalls will help create and/or test your recall program. Click here to learn more or call us!