A series of new concepts developed jointly by Factory Design (London) and the University of Sheffield, could revolutionise the world of the child resistant closure (CRC). Sponsored by Faraday Packaging after research has revealed a high proportion of consumers have trouble opening CRCs, the work focuses on making closures cognitively more difficult to open rather than physically difficult to open. One approach has been to use a combination lock design involving a slider or rotary mechanism and a code preset by the pharmacist which would also be printed on the label. Other approaches used the differences in size between children's and adult's fingers. The FaraPack Briefing (Oct/03) is being used as a launch pad for the concepts, at least six of which have been fully patented. Although some could require container redesigns, they could be in the shops relatively soon.
