Over A Million Unsafe Products In Oz
Half of the nearly seven million individually recalled products in Australia have reportedly not been returned to sellers, leaving the public at risk of injury or even death, following new figures released by the national consumer watchdog.
Figures from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) show that one in four Australian households could be exposed to potential hazards from products listed under voluntary recall.
The ACCC is recommending that businesses should be required to take “reasonable steps” to ensure the safety of the products of sold in-store in order to comply with a “new safety duty.”
The revelations come on day one of the OECD’s campaign on product recalls raising awareness for the importance of removing recalled and unsafe products from homes.
According to ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court, there is currently no law that requires businesses to sell safe products, revealing that every day, two Australians die, and close to 150 are injured from unsafe consumer products.
The Product Safety Australia website is available to Australian consumers to receive product recall alerts and manufacturer registration for products.
“It is really important that people sign up to ACCC product safety alerts and register products with manufacturers, so they stay informed about recalls and can act to remove unsafe products from their homes,” Ms Court said.
“It is vital that consumers don’t ignore recall information if they receive a letter, email or text from a manufacturer.”