LED lighting has been embraced because of its energy efficiency but consumer safety charity, Electrical Safety First, is highlighting the potential dangers of substandard and counterfeit LED lights. And, in partnership with Trading Standards (TS) Imports Team, it has been working to help remove these products from the UK.
Steve Curtler, product safety manager at Electrical Safety First, recently gave a presentation to Suffolk TS on how to identify substandard and fake LED lamps intended for domestic and general use. Suffolk TS covers Felixstowe, the UK’s largest port and hosts the Single Point of Contact for the UK’s border controls. Through its monitoring of products arriving from outside the EU, it found increasing numbers of substandard and counterfeit LEDs being imported into the country.
Electrical Safety First has a long-standing relationship with Suffolk TS and has previously developed a checklist for its officers, to help identify fake and substandard chargers – another common item that has found its way onto the UK market.
“Some estimate the cost of counterfeiting to the UK economy to be as high as £30bn but it’s the damage – to people and property – that particularly concerns us”, explained Steve. “And it’s a growing concern, as LED lamps become increasingly popular and mainstream. Fake LEDs can overheat and lead to fires, which can take hold after people have turned them off and gone to bed – which is when a fire is much more likely to go undetected and become much more dangerous.”
Electrical Safety First is planning further work with Suffolk TS, including developing similar ‘checklists for counterfeits’ material for European market surveillance authorities.
