This presentation is a review of work carried out by a number of agencies into the safety and usability of packaging and will show, for example that: • ‘Tin’ cans send 19,000 people to casualty every year and this is only about a third of those injured as the rest go to their GP or are treated at home. This is an improvement in the situation prior to the DTI campaign on packaging safety. (Hansard, May 2003) • carbonated bottles, when mishandled during opening, cause serious eye injuries • hard to open plastic packs force people to desperate opening measures that cause injuries, typically from knives. We will discuss the various aspects of pack design that research shows can ensure that packaging is easy, or at least easier to open, that instructions and on-pack warnings do their job effectively and that various legal aspects of packaging such as child-resistance are complied with.