Rachel Maclean, MP for Redditch County, and a member of the influential Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, has called on white goods manufacturers to take immediate action over the ongoing risk from faulty electrical goods.
It comes after the Committee published their report this week on the urgent need for Whirlpool to remove the danger posed by one million defective and potentially dangerous tumble dryers. In the report, the Committee found it “unacceptable” that there are still one million defective Whirlpool tumble dryers in homes more than two years after the identification of a defect that has led to at least 750 fires since 2004.
Rachel and the Committee are now calling on Whirlpool to resolve the risk from faulty machines within two weeks of being contacted by concerned customers. The company’s response to the defects, the committee found, was inadequate.
Several other recommendations have been made in the report. Manufacturers have been urged to make available risk assessments as soon as any defects are identified, and manufacturers of plastic backed fridge freezers should use safer materials, based on the number of fires associated with them. The Committee is also calling on the Government to publish a full response to the 2016 Faulds Wood Review on the UK’s system for the recall of unsafe products by the end of February 2018 at the latest.
Rachel said: “I back the many recommendations in the report. As a member of the BEIS Committee, I am fighting to make sure we protect and strengthen consumer rights.
“Whirlpool’s response to the tumble dryer defects has been shameful and it seems the company hasn’t learnt any lessons, despite their machines acting as potential fire hazards in people’s homes. The whole Whirlpool saga has highlighted flaws in the UK’s product safety regime which have to be put right.”
