Electrical Safety First operates an online recall checker, which the public can use to search for product recalls and safety actions that may affect them, and also provides further information on what steps to take.
The checker is updated with information from trading Standards, the EU Rapid-Reaction system (RAPEX) and manufacturer’s webpages, and a typical notice includes general product information including a photo and identifying characteristics, the nature of the safety issue and the manufacturer’s advice, if available.
When a recall/safety action is added to the webpage an automatic email alert is sent out to subscribers and it is publicised on Electrical Safety First’s social media.
Over the last four months the recall checker has had a total of 18 electrical product recalls/safety actions added to it, compared to the previous quarter period’s 32. Over the last 12 months there have been a total of 66 recalls published, with the most notable large-scale and well-publicised action being on tumble dryers.
Over the past quarter period, as with the quarter before, visitor numbers to the recall checker have been much higher than usual, which is predominantly due to a major UK recall of tumble dryers. This is reflected in the top five quarterly recalls and top brands searched for. From the 1st April until the 31st July 2016 the product recalls section has had 231,627 page views.
Top 5 recall/safety actions
- Hotpoint, Indesit, Creda, Swan and Proline tumble dryers – 84,712 page views
- Hotpoint washing machines – 3,312 page views
- TT-TV 4k Ultra HD TV box – 2,488 page views
- Hotpoint Quadrio fridge-freezer – 2,156 page views
- Samsung fridge freezers – 2,150 page views.
Top brands searched for:
- Hotpoint – 9,417 page views.
- Indesit – 5,965 page views
- Creda – 3,054 page views