Consumer safety
A significant part of the work carried out by trading standards is devoted to ensuring that consumer products ,new or second-hand, sold or manufactured meet modern day standards.
We also provide an advice service for industry and can supply details of relevant statutory requirements and international standards for all manner of goods.
We make frequent inspections and test purchases eg furniture, electricals, toys and cosmetics. If we discover unsafe goods we can take action to prevent their further sale or distribution. This means we can submit suspect goods to the Government Analyst or recognised test houses. Depending on the report received from these tests a prohibition on the sale of unsafe products can be issued and a product recall programme initiated.
We also provide local publicity to UK product recalls through
the press and radio.
In addition, a great deal of effort goes into making the
public aware of possible dangers associated with certain products
such as fireworks, second-hand furniture, electrical goods and
garden equipment. Throughout the year displays and exhibitions are
held to increase public awareness of safety issues.
The Trading Standards Institute and the Office of Fair Trading provide more information on consumer safety.