Electrical Safety First joins government group on product recalls

Electrical Safety First is among key industry stakeholders chosen to sit on a new government-backed working group tasked with delivering urgent recommendations to improve the safety of white goods - including tumble dryers.

The Working Group on Product Recalls and Safety - which was established following a serious fire in Hammersmith caused by a faulty tumble dryer - will bring together expertise from the fire service, trading standards, consumer groups and industry.  The group will focus on issues around the causes of fires in white goods, the marking of appliances to make them easier to identify after a fire, and a code of practice for product recalls - including the peer review of risk assessments. The consumer minister, Margot James, has asked the group to report back with interim findings by the end of this year.

“We are delighted to be co-opted on to this group, which will”, explained Phil Buckle, chief executive of Electrical Safety First. “With the limited success of recalls and well over 200 electrical items recalled in the last four years, it is evident that the recall system needs to be amended.”