CTSI, along with the British Toy & Hobby Association (BTHA), the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), is supporting the #nilbymouth campaign to raise awareness of choking risks from small objects in very young children and babies.
Many objects pose a swallowing hazard to children, including small parts, strong magnets, and button batteries sometimes found in toys and other household items like remote controls and key fobs. Recently the tragic death of 17-month-old Hugh McMahon due to ingesting a button battery highlighted the dangers.
Toys legally require all small batteries (button and AAA batteries) to have a battery compartment that can only be accessed with the aid of a tool. While law-abiding toy producers do their best to create toys that minimise the risk of swallowing, some choose to put children at risk for profit.
While trading standards and key partners work around the clock to limit the supply of dangerous toys, children remain at risk and parents and guardians should be aware of these risks and what to do to limit them.
CTSI Chief Executive, John Herriman, said: “Product safety is vital, and toy safety especially so. Trading standards services across the country do their best to identify and remove unsafe toys and prosecute unscrupulous suppliers and retailers. Still, trading standards needs the public’s cooperation to provide essential information and alert the UK’s consumer protection system when they find unsafe products.
“It is vital that the public receives the consumer education that helps them identify unsafe products, enabling them to report them and potentially save lives. CTSI is proud to work with our key partners, BTHA, OPSS, and RoSPA, on this important public awareness campaign.”
The British Toy & Hobby Association said: “We’re pleased to be able to support the government’s campaign #nilbymouth. Toys have to comply with strict safety standards in the UK which means the battery compartment in the toy must be secured that so that children cannot get to the batteries. This is not the case for other common household items, and it is these products and non-compliant toys that pose the largest risk. We would advise consumers to check the toy before giving it to a child to play with and ensure loose and accessible batteries are out of reach of children in the home.”
For more information about the campaign, click here.
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