A UK company was recently fined £14,000 (A$24K) plus costs of £7,500 ($13K) for supplying imported hard hats that failed to meet safety standards despite being marked as approved. Trading standards officers from Northamptonshire County Council arranged for safety helmets to be tested against the requirements of the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 2002 in January 2012. Northampton Magistrates Court heard the tests included a Jewson Safety Helmet purchased from the company’s store. When tested the helmet did not comply with the shock absorption test in EN 397. A further 6 helmets were purchased from another Jewson branch & three of these also failed the same test. The helmets stated “complies with: EN397” & had been imported from China by the company. Jewson Limited was only able to produce a test certificate from 2001 despite selling over 63,000 of them over an 11 year period. The challenge here is that it very difficult for users to detect this kind of issue for themselves & therefore it is vital that regulatory officers proactively monitor the safety of products on sale.
Article by: Julie Armour – www.WorkingArmour.com.au
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