PRODUCT SAFETY AUSTRALIA (ACCC) welcomes safety and information standards for button batteries
The ACCC has welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to improve the safety of button batteries by introducing new safety regulations.
Under the new mandatory safety and information standards manufacturers must:
Manufacture their products with secure battery compartments to prevent children from gaining access to the batteries.
- Undertake compliance testing to demonstrate batteries are secure
- Supply higher risk batteries in child-resistant packaging
- Place additional warnings and emergency advice on packaging and instructions.
Button batteries can be incredibly dangerous to young children, especially for children five years of age and under. If swallowed, a button battery can get stuck in a child’s throat and cause a chemical reaction that burns through tissue, causing death or serious injury. Insertion of a button battery into body orifices such as ears and noses can also lead to significant injuries.
From the time a child swallows a button battery they are ‘walking dead’
