Silent killer: New report highlights the need for better protection in the fight against dangerous electrical goods
More can be done to protect consumers from the lethal dangers of electricity with recommendations highlighting the need for urgent action to prevent deaths across the country in a new report launched today.
The Home Electrical Safety All Party Parliamentary Group, of which Electrical Safety First is the first Group Secretariat provider, publishes its new report recommending key developments the Office for Product Safety and Standards should take to better tackle serious issues which threaten the public, sometimes unknowingly, on a daily basis.
The report focuses specifically on bettering the product recall practise, general electrical product safety, BREXIT and product safety impacts as well as fridge freezer safety, recommending:
- The OPSS implement a single point of reference for product recalls
- Collection of accident and injury data caused by electrical products would be of great value in identifying problem products and informing future product design and safety standards
- Regardless of the shape and form of the EU withdrawal bill the Government must ensure the maintaining of the UKs current regulatory enforcement regime as well as the sharing of information with European agencies
- A mark should be considered to identify fire resistant materials on fridge freezers only if it demonstrated a clear safety benefit to the consumer
Today, Carolyn Harris MP, Chair of the Home Electrical Safety Parliamentary Group, welcomes the publication of the report:
“As Chair of the Home Electrical Safety All-Party Parliamentary Group I am glad to publish this important report, which will contribute to the on-going need to improve electrical product safety in the UK. It is clear that more should and can be done to better develop electrical safety and we hope our recommendations are acted upon by the Government as well as the Office for Product Safety and Standards which, if given the power, can act as a catalyst in tackling both domestic fires caused by electricity around the country as well as the number of tragic deaths caused consequently.”
It is imperative the Office has the ability to tackle the issues raised in our report with the adequate funding of front line staff, a centralised product recall system and on-going intelligence sharing with EU regulatory bodies. These powers will give the Office the tools that are essential to seeing real and substantial change in tackling problems in the electrical product field. We hope both BEIS and the OPSS find our recommendations useful and welcome any future partnerships with our working groups, such as Electrical Safety First, to make a real difference.”
