Faulty Products – An Injury Waiting To Happen

We use and consume products on a daily basis in all areas of our life. We are entitled to expect the best from these products; we expect them to be safe and to not cause us harm.

Trading Standards receive around 33,000 complaints each year regarding unsafe products. 4,793 prosecution cases were brought under the safety provisions by trading standards authorities during the ten year period ending 31st March 1998 as reported to Parliament 95% of these cases were successful and fines imposed during the last five year period averaged just over £600.

In order to make a successful personal injury claim you need to prove another person was responsible for your injury. In the case of defective/faulty products you have to be able to show the actually defect in the product and how it is a result of your injury.

In 1987 the Consumer Protection Act came into force. The reasoning behind this act was to make it easier to pursue a claim against a manufacturer. The Consumer Protection Act 1987 has been used many times; whether it is against a large pharmaceutical company or a small business manufacturer.

The Consumer Protection Act covers all goods including ones used in workplaces/food/building material and agricultural needs. Defective Cosmetic products are another thing that the act covers. You have to be careful when purchasing cosmetic products to ensure you are not allergic or sensitive to any of the ingredients. Soaps, shower gels, hair-dye, make-up and perfume can all cause reactions if you are not careful. However if you do suffer scalding, skin rashes or inflammation when you are not sensitive to any ingredients you could be entitled to compensation as the reaction is through no fault of your own.

There are four main types of compensation claim that can be made under the existing Consumer Protection Act; these are:

• Manufacturing: contamination occurs during the manufacturing process
• Design: a product is poorly designed and presents a danger
• Warnings: a manufacturer fails to display warnings on a dangerous product
• Failure to recall: a manufacturer finds fault with a product but fails to recall product

Medical supplies are another consumer product that could cause harm. Inaccurate packaging/instructions on drugs could lead to them being misused. This is extremely dangerous as the injuries you could possibly sustain may be deadly.

Common faulty product complaints lie in electrical appliances such as kettles, toasters, lamps and hair dryers; these products if faulty can cause burning, shocks or could even explode leaving devastating results.

Another common complaint comes from faulty toys. The safety in the manufacturing of toys if one of the highest as if anything goes wrong it will be a child that suffers because of it.
There are certain steps that can be taken to ensure the standard of our consumer products:
• Product safety system itself must be better managed.

• Greater attention should be paid at the design stage to ensure products are safe and companies should integrate product safety within their management system.

• Manufacturers are more likely to ensure their products are safe if they see others punished for putting dangerous products on the market.

• More effective market surveillance needs to be employed and valid product liability claims need to be better supported.

• With limited resources available to both manufacturers and the enforcement authorities, choices have to be made and priorities set. Risk assessment techniques should be more widely used to assist in this process.
If you feel you have suffered due to a faulty product you should get in touch with a lawyer today to find out whether you are entitled to a compensation claim.

Helen Cox is the web master for Accident Consult; specialists in Faulty Product claims.

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Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_249514_18.html

Tags: compensation claim, consumer protection act, contamination, daily basis, faulty products, inflammation, parliament, personal injury claim, safety provisions