Held v. Gateway Safety, Inc.

The parties involved in the case Held v. Gateway Safety. Inc. executed a Consent Judgment on April 19, 2019.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. alleged that Gateway Safety, Inc. (“Gateway”) sold safety products with vinyl/PVC components containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (“DEHP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.  

 

As part of the agreement, Gateway agreed not to sell any safety products with vinyl/PVC components in California after the San Francisco County Superior Court approves the Judgment, unless the products contain less than 1,000 parts of million of DEHP, butyl benzyl phthalate (“BBP”), di-n-butyl phthalate (“DBP”), di-isodecyl phthalate (“DIDP”), di-n-hexyl phthalate (“DnHP”), and/or diisononyl phthalate (“DINP”) when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies OR have Proposition 65 warnings provided. Should Gateway provide Held with written certification by certain dates that all their safety products sold in California qualify as reformulated products under the agreement, Held agreed to waive portions of the civil penalty that would otherwise be applied.

 

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of up to $149,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Held and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.