1. Investigation Background and Objectives

n       The number of consumer complaints and damages continues to rise due to increased volume of low-priced child products including toys and stationeries. Aainst this backdrop, each nations are trying to complete safety measures against products with concerns for damage accident and check whther those products contain a harmful chemical (such as harmful metal and plasticizer).

-         Imported industrial products should go through differential safety test under the ‘Quality Management and Safety Control of Industrial Products Act’, while products liable for management are re-confirmed whether they have been through safety tests during customs procedure.

n       Yet, there are limits to preliminary risk inspection for damage accidents when it comes to products in blind spot such as new products, products with potential safety risk, products that are difficult to be controlled under the existing laws.

n       Investigation was launched for ‘Tiger Storage Hamper (China-made)’ as the necessity surfaced for confirmation and review for product safety and relevant regulations in line with damage report cases filed to the Korea Consumer Agency’s Consumer Injury Surveillance System (CISS)

2. Safety standards for all-purpose animal/ character storage hampers

n      Authoritative interpretation saying that a multi-purpose hamper belongs to toys

l      All-purpose animal/ character storage hampers are often used for storing child toys and managed to come under ‘toys’.

l      Storage hampers that are of wide use for storing toys and laundry are not designed for play. Yet, they are classified as ‘toys’ as there is much room for being mistaken as toys as they are modeled after child-loving animals and characters and light-weighted. Therefore, children may play with them by hanging or entering them.  

3. Safety test results of the product in question and similar products

n      Conducting a tensile test of protection parts of similar eight products including the product with damage accident in question on the basis of structural safety inlcuding safety device and toys standard

n      Test results

            Middle parts of steel wire of the spring steel frame was half connected with synthetic resin tubes. Pointy wire edge was not protected. As such, safety device was insufficient.

Table III-2 Safety Device by Sample & Completion of Wire Edges

4. Problem & Suggestion

n      Necessity for active interpretation of industrial products liable for safety tests

l     Besides products that are clearly defined as toys or child goods, household goods with animal/ character pattern that child can feel friendly toward should be included to industrial goods liable for safety test (such as toys) and closely managed by judging the safety accident risk related to ‘rationally predicted misuse’.

-         The International Electro-technical Commission places a ban on production and sales of animal/ character electrical equipments (such as humidifiers) by applying its Guidelines of ‘Appearance of electrical equipments should not have a shape or frills that can be mistaken by children as toys’. 

 ☞ Animal character electrical equipments themselves are not dangerous. Yet, children can misunderstand them as a toy and be damaged (receiving electric shock/ getting burned).

< Children who use all-purpose character hampers as toys >

n      Raising safety awareness of business for sales of safety child products

l     Out of nine products tested, all of them are sold without going through a safety test, meaning that most businesses are not taking the character hampers as toys.

l  However, when looking at advertisement lines such as ‘ Kids will love keeping their things picked up off the floor and feeding the tiger’ or ‘Good for storing toys’, businesses are believed to have recognized that child access can be easily made to the hampers.

l  Likewise, businesses might expect the possibility of safety accidents when the pointy wire edge is exposed externally. Against this backdrop, some of responsibility for the safety accidents happened should be borne by the enterprise for the low safety awareness.

n      Parents and guardians’ No. 1 priority should be ‘Safety’

l     The test results confirmed that 1) four products out of nine used a soft synthetic resin tube as a connector; and 2) pointy wire edge was remained unprotected.

☞ Parents and guardians should select safe products by recognizing high chances for children to use animal/ character household goods as toys and thoroughly checking safety device of products. Also, they should try to prevent safety accidents by following directions and often checking whether the products are broken at times of using them.