JA2015 Playground equipment inspections

Children are the most precious gift and parents’ number 1 concern is their health and safety. There is no suprise therefore that products used by children feature prominently in PROSAFE Joint Actions. Joint Action 2015 includes a review of 3 groups of products used by children: child care articles, toys and playground equipment.

This project follows a similar one, Playground Equipment 1, which took place under the Joint Action "Safe play on the Playground!". Most of PROSAFE Joint Actions involve reviewing the safety of new consumer products. This project is different since Member States will assess the safety of playground equipment that is already in use. The reason is that this type of equipment degrades through use and exposure to the elements. Although each swing, roundabout or see-saw may have started life by conforming to the relevant safety standard, EN 1176 - playground equipment, it may have been poorly maintained or become unsafe since it was installed.

Power tools - testing safety requirements for dangerous tools Oct.2016

Circular saws are at the top of any dangerous tools list. Statistics indicate that tool-related injuries are on the rise and this might have a connection

with the DIY revolution, which brings this kind of dangerous machinery in the hands of less experienced consumers.

This is why a number of 100 circular saws will be tested soon, during the Joint Action 2015. In the following months, the 10 participating Market Surveillance Authorities will sample the products with a focus on the whole hand-held electric circular saws market. This includes not only the professional market, but also the DIY consumer market. The participants expressed their concern that an important part of the professional tools have migrated into the DIY consumer market and cheap products with unknown brand names, often from outside the EU, come available in the lower end of the market.

JA2015 - Household Electrical Appliances Safety

Small electrical appliances such as irons, blenders, mixers, kettles etc. are part of our daily life and they require being not only durable but also safe for every day use. These products are used by normal consumers and/or non-professionals and are easily found in shops. 

It is considered to be present in more than 80% of the European households and though these kinds of products have achieved a good overall safety level, there are still a large number of unsafe products. This is the reason household electrical appliances became a top priority for the Joint Action 2015 and there are also going to be present in future Joint Actions.

The first action of its kind has begun within the framework of the Joint Action 2015 and is focusing on blenders, mixers and small kitchen heating appliances such as toasters. The problems presented by these products are numerous: poor internal wiring that may cause fires or electric shocks to the user, accessible hot surfaces that may cause burns or moving blades that may cause cuts or break up during normal operation.

Also, another issue that should be taken into account is the fact that these products may be offered on sale at very low prices and without having been manufactured in line with the legal requirements applied in Europe.

In fact, in the last three years more than 10 RAPEX notifications have been issued covering unsafe characteristics of products on the European market.

Click on the pictures below to refer to further interesting links related to household electrical appliances safety.

25th Anniversary

This year it is 25 years ago that PROSAFE was born!
We would like to mark this ocasion with a celebration on 21 April 2016. This will take place back to back with the Launch Meeting of JA2015 on 20 April, meaning that the travel costs of the participants of this Joint Action will be covered. AGENDA launch event