Product Recalls and Safety Notices
The regulation of product safety in the UK is the responsibility of market surveillance authorities, alongside Trading Standards and the Office for Product Safety and Standards. Where investigations by market surveillance authorities identify that a product is unsafe it must be published on the Product Safety Database.
Alert types
You can search the list to check products you own are safe and subscribe to email updates for new products added. The three types of alerts added to the list are:
- Product recalls – These are for specific products that have been sold in the UK and may require you to act to receive a free replacement, repair or refund from the manufacturer or a retailer.
- Product safety reports – These are for specific products found in the UK where corrective measures other than a recall have either been ordered by an authority or are being undertaken by a business.
- Product safety alerts – These highlight product categories or sectors in the UK with risks of serious injury or fatality and where immediate steps are requested by the Office for Product Safety and Standards from businesses, authorities and possibly consumers.
Information on product safety alerts, reports and recalls for unsafe products and resources can be found on the gov.uk site.
To stay informed of any safety issues or recalls with products you have purchased, you can sign up on the Register My Appliance website.
To sign up for food recalls and allergy alerts, you can visit the Food Standards Agency website.
Stay Safe This Summer campaign
The Office for Product Safety and Standards has launched a social media campaign, promoting safe use of BBQ’s and bioethanol burners, as well as asking consumers to check whether power banks have been recalled due to a fire risk. OPSS is also asking for consumers to check whether travel adaptors have been recalled for electric shock and fire risks.
Further information about product recalls, including power banks, can be found on the gov.uk site.
Hot topic
Squishy toys (and particularly counterfeit ones) are a hot topic for us at present. We have had a couple of reports of injuries being caused by these toys.
The Child Accident Prevention Trust has produced some useful guidance for parents - https://capt.org.uk/squishy-toys-warning/.