Ms. Buerkle, however, has voted against 16 of 21 proposed settlements; in numerous cases, she argued that they should be lower than the amount the businesses had already agreed to. “Congress in 2008, raised the fines for a reason, and it did so to give the C.P.S.C. more of an ability to deter corporate wrongdoing,” said William Wallace, a policy analyst for Consumers Union, an advocacy group.

As a sign that Ms. Buerkle is too close to industry, opponents point to her hiring of Patricia Hanz as the agency’s general counsel. Ms. Hanz was a lawyer for Briggs & Stratton Corp., the world’s largest producer of gasoline engines for power equipment and a leading maker of power generators. The Milwaukee-based company has been fighting the agency’s push to require reduction of the generators’ carbon monoxide emissions, to lower the risk of poisoning associated with using the products indoors. Ms. Hanz was also vice president of the board of directors of the Portable Generator Manufacturers’ Association.

Ms. Buerkle was the only commissioner who rejected a proposal to force the manufacturers to cut carbon monoxide emissions, which have been responsible for 849 non-fire deaths from 2005 through 2016, according to the agency.

Ms. Buerkle defended her vote, saying that she believed the industry’s proposed voluntary standard could be adopted faster than a formal rule. In a striking departure for an agency chief, she suggested punting the issue to the Environmental Protection Agency.

And emails obtained by The New York Times show that Mr. Mohorovic, who stepped down in October, has since been lobbying against the proposal for voluntary standards that were under consideration by members of the Underwriters Labratories that votes on safety recommendations.

In the email, Mr. Mohorovic included a link to his agency biography, and contended that the Underwriters Laboratories proposal did not deal sufficiently with carbon monoxide problems and other potential generator hazards. The Underwiters Lab is a separate entity from the agency, although a commission member is among its dozens of members.

Asked for comment, Mr. Mohorovic sent an email to The Times that included the ethics rules on revolving door practices, which prohibits former officials from lobbying for one year before their agency.