Product safety
### NEWS ALERT – Suspected Counterfeit Overfinch Alloy Wheels – Dec 2011 ###
While you may be preparing for your road trips to family and friends during the festive season Trading Standards are continuing to ensure only safe and genuine goods are supplied to you.
Where do I go to get my alloy wheels checked?
There are suspicions that counterfeit Overfinch alloy wheels are being sold in the UK. Concerned owners are advised to check the authenticity of their purchased alloys by checking with their nearest official Overfinch stockists
Arrive safely
Trading Standards want you to arrive safely to enjoy your festive celebrations, so we advise you to carry out adequate checks on your vehicle, road conditions and where necessary use winter tyres. Specifically designed for use in cold weather conditions, winter tyres have tread patterns for improving road contact to help reduce stopping distances and provide more steering response. For more information on tyre safety please go to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).
How to drive safely in extreme weather
For further motoring safety information please go to the DirectGov website.
If you have safety concerns please contact
Consumer Direct
on 08454 04 05 06.
## News update April 2011 ##
Shut out the light, not take a life
On Friday 01 April a 21 month old boy died after he was strangled by the nylon cord of a blind hanging next to his cot. At least 15 toddlers in the UK have died since 1999 say the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).
Trading Standards support efforts by RoSPA and The British Blind and Shutter Association (BBSA) to raise awareness of the potential dangers of looped cords among families with small children as part of their ‘Make It Safe’ campaign.
If you're a parent and have blinds in your home, or know someone with children who may have blinds in their home, then please read this to easily remove the potential dangers.
RoSPA are providing free cleats that can be fitted to tie blind cords high up out of the reach of children. The BBSA have also produced a Make It Safe video and you can download a copy of their Make It Safe brochure to help you when thinking about purchasing blinds.
How to reduce the risk of harm to your children
- Install curtains or blinds that do not have a cord, particularly in a child's bedroom
- Do not place a child's cot, bed, playpen or highchair near a window
- Tie up the cords or use one of the many cleats, cord tidies, clips or ties that are available to keep them short and out of the reach of children
- Do not hang toys or objects that could be a hazard on the cot or bed
- Don't hang drawstring bags where a small child could get their head through the loop of the drawstring.
RoSPA does not recommend that cords are cut, even as a short-term solution. Cutting the cord in the wrong place can make the blind not work properly; and it may also lead to one cord becoming a lot longer which increases the risk of entanglement and can result in the reformation of a loop. It is advisable that any action taken on the blind cord is a permanent one which will take the cord out of reach of children. It is not an expensive task and a limited number of cleats are available to those who need them from RoSPA.
If you have safety concerns please contact Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.
General Product Safety
We sometimes take safety for granted. There can be few of us who have not chuckled at what may seem to be excessive concerns about safety in labelling, warnings or procedures to follow. However most of us also want to be sure that what we buy is reasonably safe.
The United Kingdom (UK) has a long history of concern for the safety of what we buy. The earliest steps were related to food, caused by concerns of dangerous adulteration. Trading Standards in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham however primarily are concerned with the safety of consumer goods that we buy: items such as toys, electrical goods and furniture.
Originally safety legislation was fairly product specific and was introduced in response to critical events. The advantage is that these laws have very specific requirements for the products, but were found to be inflexible and they did not tackle a number of problems that became apparent in later years. This has now been addressed by the General Products Safety Regulations which require businesses to establish whether the consumer goods they supply, are safe.
Harmonised safety standards across European Union (EU) member countries have reduced the burdens on traders in meeting safety requirements for the individual countries. The UK can however still set its own safety standards, current examples include those for electrical and furniture safety.
The greatest burden is placed on those businesses who first place the goods on the market within the EU, or whose activities are likely to affect the safety of the goods. If there is a likely risk they should look for evidence that the goods have been tested, or in some cases arrange for tests themselves. For further guidance please contact the Duty Trading Standards Officer on 0208 753 1081 or email your enquiry to: trading_standards@lbhf.gov.uk
If you have any concerns about a product contact Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06. For food safety contact Environmental Health on 0208 753 1081 or click on the following link to their web-page: Environmental Health
