What to do if suspect you have an unsafe button/coin battery-operated product or battery packaging?
New Australian safety standards for consumer goods and packaging containing button/coin batteries will be mandatory from 22 June 2022 to reduce the risk of injury and death to children from exposure to these batteries (A Guide for Business on the Application of Mandatory Standards and a fact sheet which summarises the requirements of the new standards). Until that time there is a transition period for businesses to comply with the new legal requirements.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says that the new safety standards will require:
- clear warnings on products or sold with them to warn people of the dangers and fatal risks
- batteries to be sold in child-resistant packaging
- secure battery compartments in products that passes compliance tests to show they are resistant to being opened by young children and batteries don’t easily fall out with normal use or if dropped.
If you find a product or packaging that you feel is unsafe because the batteries are easily accessible please report it to the ACCC (during this transition period as well as once the standards are mandatory).
For a list of products that have been recalled because of safety concerns.