The Electrical Safety Council (ESC) is pushing for harsher penalties on companies who don’t reinforce electrical product recall policies.
After carrying out research into recalled products the ESC found that typically only 10-20% of recalled electrical goods are actually ever returned. This means that 80% of these potentially dangerous products are still probably used in homes which means there is a change of these faulty goods causing fires or electrocution to those using them.
It is believed that the problems with recalls stem both from the company who produced the product not enforcing the recall vigorously and there are also outside factors such as people moving house and the company not being informed of this, thus having no way to contact the person who purchased a product. It’s also highly possible that many people don’t register their purchases, which means the company has no way to reach them in the first place.
Emma Apter from the ESC said: “The current recall system is not effective enough, and without tougher penalties there is no incentive for manufacturers to act quickly and take the best corrective action possible. Whilst it is a complex issue, with no quick fix solution, we believe there are a number of steps that have the potential to make a significant improvement.”
At the moment companies can be fined £5000 for not taking action to recall damaged products, but the ESC firmly believes that these sanctions are not good enough.
The ESC is focused on developing a safer world around electronics, and this certainly sounds like a good way to go about it.
