Economist helped make products safer for you and your family

The next time you mow your lawn, you can thank Warren J. Prunella, B.A. ’63, for making it a safer chore. During his 30-year tenure at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the last 15 as chief economist, adding safety features to lawnmowers is just one instance of preventive measures being put in place by the independent federal regulatory agency. The automatic shutdown that occurs when the hand-held bar is released was a cost-effective fix that significantly reduces the risk of injury.

That safeguard was deemed necessary as a result of the cost-benefit analysis function performed by Prunella and his team at CPSC. Cost-benefit analysis is commonly used in setting federal regulations today, but not so in 1973 when Prunella joined the fledgling agency as a senior economist. His work there centered on “saving lives and preventing injuries in a cost-effective manner,” he says. In essence, his analyses determined the cost of accidents caused by consumer products, such as lawnmowers, and how much benefit society would reap if the product were improved to make them safer. The process quantified whether it would be more valuable to society to fix the product, ban the product or leave the product as-is.

By way of example, Prunella says there are more than 40,000 motor vehicle fatalities each year in the United States. Theoretically, if the government regulated a 5-mile-per-hour speed limit, virtually all of those fatalities would be prevented; however, the cost of such a regulation is obviously too high. A real life example is the disposable cigarette lighter. The CPSC was petitioned to ban them outright due to the number of deaths and injuries associated with children playing with them. In the commission’s analysis, it was determined that lighter sales were approximately half a billion dollars per year, which equaled the amount of damages from the fires children started, or $1 of damage per lighter. A solution was found that would fix the problem for less than $1 per lighter – at a cost of only 15 cents per unit, child resistant lighters were created.

Risk analysis pioneer

Prunella pioneered the standard method used today to calculate injuries and their cost to society, including those beyond initial hospital bills, such as lost-work time, follow-up care and other residual effects. This injury-cost model remains a useful tool at CPSC today.

The CPSC has jurisdiction over approximately 150,000 products, “the things we come in contact with every day,” Prunella says, such as furniture, bicycles, recreation equipment, household chemicals and the like. Summarizing his work philosophy, Prunella was cited recently in the Washington Post as saying that he likes to think in terms of how much it costs to save a life, not how much a life is worth.

After earning his bachelor of arts degree in economics from UB, Prunella attended graduate school at Northwestern University before returning to Buffalo to teach economics at Canisius College. He joined the CPSC in November 1973, six months after the agency was formed. He retired in May, and now is a consultant working in the area of safety and economics.

His favorite award came from UB

Prunella was a member of the wrestling team while at UB, but turned to running at age 46 because, as he admits, “you can’t wrestle forever!” He and his wife, Priscilla, are now avid runners, participating in approximately 30 races a year, and both are top marathoners in their respective age groups. They have three grown children.

He returns to Buffalo a couple of times a year to visit his mother and siblings, and recently visited the South Campus, where he was a student. “The only thing that looks different is that the football field is gone and the trees are taller,” Prunella says. He fondly remembers his days at UB, and with the many awards he has received during his lifetime, the one he cherishes the most is the one he received at the athletic banquet during his senior year. He was given the Chancellor’s Award for being the varsity athlete with highest academic average over four years. “It was a real surprise, and it still means the most to me.”

Written by Barbara A. Byers, APR
September 2003