Meanwhile, children’s toys, particularly those with button batteries, may have detachable parts that can be accidentally swallowed, while loose cords or strings carry risk of strangulation. In Australia, three children have died from swallowing button batteries.
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“If you don’t have appropriate level of standards around things like teethers and rattles, things can come apart, and they can become hazards,” said Balding. Play-Doh equivalents such as slime can contain toxic materials and harmful chemicals.
Poor quality clothing, which makes up around 75 per cent of ultra-fast fashion platform Shein’s sales and around 40 per cent of Temu’s, can also be highly flammable and in some instances catch fire. Temu recalled a glow-in-the-dark jumper after an eight-year-old suffered severe burns from standing near a fire pit.
Coles and The Reject Shop were forced to recall Halloween products after the ACCC found novelty light-up products with button or coin batteries were not compliant with safety standards and that a two-wick candle was a fire hazard. Western Australia’s Consumer Protection agency found only three of 49 button battery-powered products met safety standards.
In February, Fire and Rescue NSW warned about a spike in lithium ion-battery induced fires, with the cause probably attributed to the wrong type of charger. Last year, an investigation by Choice found 15 randomly chosen Temu toys all failed safety testing.
Look out for the Regulatory Compliance Mark, which shows compliance with Australian safety standards.
When asked which platforms Australian consumers should be wary of, Balding said that non-compliant products could be found on Shein, Temu, Amazon, Ebay and Facebook Marketplace.
“It’s any e-commerce platform. There is a potential risk of a manufacturer or a reseller doing something that may not be in accordance with standards that we have come to expect from a safety perspective,” said Balding.
Australian consumers have been urged to look out for the Regulatory Compliance Mark, which shows a tick inside a circle inside a triangle, which conveys the product is electrically and legally safe to use and technically compliant.
“The other thing is looking for explicit words that say made or tested in accordance with Australian standards, so anything that starts with AS or AS/NZ.”
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