Original Date: 03/17/1997
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

Polaroid’s Product Certification Charter requires that products carrying the Polaroid name must comply with the product safety and certification laws of the countries where they will be marketed. Worldwide product safety regulations, voluntary standards, federal standards, and testing protocols must be met. Due to the chemistry and uniqueness of some Polaroid products, toxicity testing is performed to identify any health issues. In addition, testing and evaluation are required on all products purchased by Polaroid and repackaged for sale under the Polaroid name.

Test analysis and safety certification follows a product’s lifecycle from concept to marketing. Involvement by development and production personnel is critical. The program manager ensures product safety by informing, educating, assisting, reviewing, testing, certifying, and monitoring product development. Safety critical items must be quantified, and safety certification and regulatory approvals must be obtained. In cases where design changes are unfeasible, labels and warnings must be developed. Alpha and beta testings confirm product safety analyses. The product must prove to be manufacturable with consistency and precision, and all documentation must be maintained for a minimum of ten years.

High product reliability and safety help Polaroid maintain a strong positive public image. By using an in-depth safety procedure, Polaroid meets its charter for global safety certification. Additionally, time is reduced between the concept and marketing phases by implementing the test analysis early in the product’s lifecycle. Costs are also reduced by streamlining the certification stages and discovering necessary changes early.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.