The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has urged consumers to ‘unplug’ unmodified and affected Whirlpool tumble dryers and contact the company.
The warning comes as OPSS notified Whirlpool of its intention to serve a recall notice for affected machines. This is the strongest action taken yet by the OPSS, part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), amid widespread criticism that Whirlpool has not acted quickly or strongly enough to protect consumers from a fire risk associated with its tumble dryers.
A BEIS spokesperson said: “The government’s Office for Product Safety and Standards continues to take robust action on this issue. On 4 June, in accordance with legislation, we notified Whirlpool of our intention to serve them with a recall notice for those affected machines that have yet to be modified. We await their response.
“We continue to urge consumers with unmodified, affected tumble dryers to unplug them and contact Whirlpool. Consumers who have already had their Whirlpool tumble dryers modified can continue to use them safely.”
Delegates attending the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) Symposium in Brighton this week discussed the very issue of the possible impact regulatory failures can take on the economy, and on people’s lives.
Chief Executive at CTSI, Leon Livermore, said: “CTSI will support the Office where it takes robust action against unacceptable risks to consumers. Appliance fires can be extremely dangerous and this action is a positive step forward to ensuring consumers remain safe.”
