Month: August 2016

Register Your Electrical Appliances To Stay Safe (UK)

by Paul, posted in Compliance Engineering, Electrical Safety, Fire, General, LinkedIn, News Snippets that catch my eye, Product Safety

Shoppers who register new and old appliances with the relevant manufacturer will greatly reduce the risk of a fire in their home.

Thousands of consumers are missing out on product safety warnings because they are not registering their fridges, freezers, toasters and washing machines. “There are more than 100 million large appliances in use in our homes and we keep them a very long time, but less than half (47%) of consumers registered the last product they bought. Unlike cars, this leaves the vast majority untraceable if a safety action or product recall becomes necessary,”.

Manufacturers need to identify and contact owners swiftly to organise a repair. SFRS is urging consumers to register their new and used appliances by logging onto the Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances (AMDEA) website – www.registermyappliance.org.uk – where they will find registration pages for 62 leading brands. The public should register all their appliances, including the older ones.

Product recall information can be found at http://www.registermyappliance.org.uk/products/recall-list/

 

Source: Register Your Electrical Appliances To Stay Safe | Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service

Report on Furniture Stability | Kids In Danger (USA)

by Paul, posted in children, LinkedIn, Product Safety

A child dies from tipping furniture, appliances or TVs every two weeks. The statistics for tip-over incidents have grown over the last decade, yet there has been little reform to safety standards. [The] report, Furniture Stability: A review of data and testing  … analyzed data of dresser and chest tip-overs and revealed testing results for 19 furniture units. Findings of the data analysis include:

  • Two-year-olds are the age group most affected by tip-overs, and are most likely to be killed.
  • Head injuries (37%) were the most common category of injury.
  • Almost all (98.7%) of head injuries are related to a television tipping over on a child.

Source: KID and Shane’s Foundation Release Report on Furniture Stability | Kids In Danger

IBM Making Silicon to Sort Viruses and Other Nanoscale Biological Targets – IEEE Spectrum

by Paul, posted in LinkedIn, Medical, SciTech

In cross-disciplinary research described in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, a team at IBM … has been able to … create a diagnostic device that can separate viruses, DNA, and other nanoscale-size biological targets from saliva or urine. This could enable the device to detect the presence of diseases before any physical symptoms are visible.

Source: IBM Making Silicon to Sort Viruses and Other Nanoscale Biological Targets – IEEE Spectrum

Infinity in a grain of sand: neural dust sensors monitor the body from inside

by Paul, posted in General, LinkedIn, News Snippets that catch my eye

120945_webImagine tiny wireless sensors the size of a grain of sand that can be implanted in the human body to monitor nerves, muscles and organs in real time. … engineers from the University of California, Berkeley recently created these batteryless sensors, opening the door to ‘electroceuticals’ — an emerging field in which these devices are used to treat disorders like epilepsy, stimulate the immune system or reduce inflammation by stimulating nerves and muscles.

Source: Infinity in a grain of sand: neural dust sensors monitor the body from inside

Travel warning: carriage of lithium ion batteries on aircraft

by Paul, posted in Fire, General, LinkedIn, Product Safety

The Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester issued a reminder to airline passengers to carefully consider items in their carry-on luggage after a lithium battery in a passenger’s carry-on bag caught fire at Sydney Airport.“ On this occasion the battery caught fire while the plane was on the ground and the issue was resolved. Whilst there was no damage to the aircraft, several passengers did report feeling ill.

Source: Travel warning: carriage of lithium ion batteries on aircraft

Tesla car on autopilot mode crashes in Beijing (ABC News Australia)

by Paul, posted in Autonomous, General, LinkedIn, Product Liability, Product Safety

Tesla said it had reviewed data to confirm the car was in autopilot mode, a system that takes control of steering and braking in certain conditions. The company, which is investigating the crash, also said it was the driver’s responsibility to maintain control of the vehicle. In this case, it said, the driver’s hands were not detected on the steering wheel.

Mr Luo, who filmed the incident with a dashboard camera, said his car hit a vehicle parked half off the road.

Tesla owners all said salespeople described the cars’ function in Chinese as “self-driving”, a term the company generally avoids using in English, and took their hands off the wheel while demonstrating it.

Source: Tesla car on autopilot mode crashes in Beijing – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Hoverboard fires, food scares fuel jump in Australia product recalls: ACCC

by Paul, posted in General, LinkedIn, News Snippets that catch my eye, Product Liability, Product Safety, Recalls

There has been a concerning jump in the number of products recalled in Australia in the past year, the ACCC says.

Source: Hoverboard fires, food scares fuel jump in Australia product recalls: ACCC

 

Ms Rickard said button batteries, which can be lethal to children of swallowed, are a continuing concern across a number of products.

“We’ve been working with industry to get a code in place that’s going to lead to much better containment of button batteries, and major retailers not being able to sell products that don’t have batteries properly screwed in,” she said.

“We most frequently get the recalls around children’s novelty products which flash, things like kids bracelets, flashing rings, drinking cups which are cheaply made so easily break.

“They’re also there in car keys, TV remote controls, kitchen scales, hearing aids, so they’re virtually ubiquitous, so we’re saying to anyone who supplies products that contain button batteries, unless they are securely contained so children can’t access them, they shouldn’t be sold at all.”