Introduction: Better Safe than Sorry

Product safety is defined as whether the use of a product, under normal or reasonably foreseeable condition of use, including duration, involves any risk of injury or damage to health of users or damage to property or environment. Insufficient product safety has grave implications for individuals, companies, and occasionally society as we know it. We investigate what companies that design, develop, and manufacture products can do to improve product safety. Strategic product safety management is central to the emerging field of “responsible innovation,” especially responsible product innovation, as the principal focus of our work.