Methodology & Data Sources

Q: What are the limitations of this data?

Danger scores reflect ER-treated injuries only. High injury volume may reflect widespread product use rather than inherent danger. SaferProducts.gov reports are voluntary and not nationally representative. Recalls may lag consumer reports. Product category crosswalks between datasets are approximate.

Editorial Workflow

Content on PlainSafety is compiled by our editorial team. Raw data from CPSC NEISS, SaferProducts.gov, and CPSC recall announcements is ingested programmatically; narrative framing, guide text, rankings commentary, and methodology writeups are drafted by our editorial team and then reviewed line-by-line by the PlainSafety editorial team before publication. We follow rigorous editorial standards: source data is loaded directly from official agencies, never invented or interpolated. No page on PlainSafety is published without human review. We do not accept payment for coverage, placement, or rankings, danger scores and all "most dangerous" lists are computed directly from CPSC public data.

Data Sources

All data comes directly from three US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) public databases:

NEISS (National Electronic Injury Surveillance System): A stratified probability sample of approximately 100 US hospital emergency departments, collecting product-related injury cases continuously since 1970. From sample cases, CPSC projects nationally representative estimates of product-related ER visits. Our database covers 2005-2024 (~7.3 million case records projecting to ~310 million national estimates).
SaferProducts.gov: Consumer-submitted incident reports filed directly with CPSC. Over 65,000 reports including descriptions, manufacturers, products involved, and outcomes (injury, death, property damage).
CPSC Recalls: 9,692 product recall announcements including hazard descriptions, remedies, affected units, and product categories.

Cross-referenced where available with the FDA Recalls, Market Withdrawals & Safety Alerts and the NHTSA National Center for Statistics & Analysis for context on cross-agency product-safety enforcement actions.

Danger Score Calculation

PlainSafety computes a danger score (1-100) for each of the 838 product categories using a composite of four factors:

Injury volume (40% weight): Annual average estimated ER visits from NEISS, normalized to a 0-100 scale within the full product category population
Hospitalization rate (25% weight): Percentage of NEISS cases requiring hospital admission, indicating injury severity
Fatality rate (25% weight): Deaths associated with the product category from NEISS death module and case narratives
5-year trend (10% weight): Whether ER visit volume is increasing, decreasing, or stable compared to the prior 5-year average

A score of 50 means the product is more dangerous than half of tracked categories. Scores are relative rankings, not absolute risk probabilities.

NEISS Sampling Methodology

NEISS uses a stratified probability sample of ~100 hospitals selected to represent the ~6,000 US hospital emergency departments. Each case is assigned a statistical weight based on the sampling probability, allowing projection to national estimates. Sample hospitals are rotated periodically to maintain representativeness.

Statistical note: For product categories with few cases in the sample, national estimate projections carry higher coefficients of variation (statistical uncertainty). We follow CPSC guidelines and note when estimates are based on small sample sizes.

Product Category Linking

NEISS, SaferProducts.gov, and CPSC recalls each use their own product category codes. We link these three datasets by:

NEISS product codes (2-digit and 5-digit) mapped to product category names
SaferProducts.gov product types mapped to matching NEISS category names
CPSC recall product categories matched to NEISS codes using CPSC's published crosswalk

Update Schedule

NEISS data is collected continuously and published annually by CPSC. SaferProducts.gov reports are published on a rolling basis as consumers submit them. CPSC recalls are issued as hazards are identified. We update our database when new annual NEISS data and recall batches become available. Between updates, recently reported incidents and newly issued recalls may not be reflected. Danger scores are recalculated with each annual NEISS update to reflect the most current injury patterns.

Limitations

Danger scores are based on emergency department injuries, not all injuries. Many product-related injuries are treated at home or by primary care providers and are not captured by NEISS.
High absolute injury volumes may reflect widespread product use, not inherent product dangerousness. Per-user risk requires knowing how many households use each product.
SaferProducts.gov reports are voluntary and not nationally representative. Dramatic incidents generate more reports than minor but more common injuries.
CPSC recalls reflect official government action and may lag consumer reports by months or years.
Product category crosswalks between NEISS, SaferProducts.gov, and CPSC recalls are approximate, some products may not link perfectly across all three data sources.

Not Affiliated

PlainSafety is not affiliated with the Consumer Product Safety Commission or any government agency. This site is for informational purposes only and does not provide safety certifications or product endorsements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where does PlainSafety's product safety data come from?

All data comes from three U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) public databases: NEISS (National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, emergency department injury surveillance from ~100 sample hospitals, 2005–2024), SaferProducts.gov (65,000+ consumer-submitted incident reports), and CPSC Recalls (9,692 recall announcements with hazard descriptions).

How often is the data updated?

CPSC publishes new NEISS data annually, typically in the spring following the reference year. SaferProducts.gov reports and recall announcements are published on a rolling basis. PlainSafety refreshes within 30 days of each major CPSC release. Like all federal statistical programs, there is a 6–18 month lag between when injuries occur and when data becomes publicly available.

How accurate are the danger scores?

Danger scores are computed transparently from CPSC public data: 40% injury volume, 25% hospitalization rate, 25% fatality rate, 10% five-year trend. Scores reflect relative risk across the 838 tracked product categories, not absolute danger probabilities. NEISS national projections carry a statistical coefficient of variation, for products with small sample sizes, estimates carry higher uncertainty and are flagged accordingly. PlainSafety does not modify or adjust CPSC figures.

What are the limitations of this data?

Danger scores reflect ER-treated injuries only, many product-related injuries are treated at home or by primary care providers and are not captured. High injury volume may reflect widespread product use rather than inherent danger (per-use risk requires household penetration data we do not have). SaferProducts.gov reports are voluntary and not nationally representative. Recalls may lag consumer reports by months or years. Product category crosswalks between datasets are approximate.