Nationwide investigation launched into fire safety of children鈥檚 fancy dress
Business Secretary Sajid Javid has requested a nationwide investigation into the safety of children鈥檚 fancy dress costumes.
- Trading Standards to carry out spot checks on children鈥檚 fancy dress costumes for sale across the UK
- Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and British Standards Institute assessing whether European safety standards are tough enough
- news comes ahead of national fire safety campaign
Business Secretary Sajid Javid has today (24 September 2015) requested a nationwide investigation into the safety of children鈥檚 fancy dress costumes.
Trading Standards inspectors will carry out spot checks on hundreds of retailers selling fancy dress costumes in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. 皇冠体育app costumes will be subjected to flammability testing to assess whether they are safe for sale and compliant with safety standards.
皇冠体育app news comes after TV presenter Claudia Winkleman raised her concerns about the safety of fancy dress costumes when her daughter suffered serious burns when her fancy dress costume caught fire.
Business Secretary Sajid Javid said:
My immediate concern as a father and a minister is that children wearing these fancy dress costumes are safe. It is unacceptable for any costumes to be sold that do not comply with safety standards. That鈥檚 why I鈥檝e granted funding to Trading Standards to carry out spot checks as part of a nationwide investigation. Parents should feel confident that any fancy dress they buy meets required standards.
Trading Standards is set to report back to the Business Secretary on its findings later in the autumn.
In a further move, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is working with the British Standards Institute to assess whether European safety standards in this area need to be toughened-up. 皇冠体育app findings from the Trading Standards investigation will form an important evidence base for this work.
Leon Livermore, chief executive at the (CTSI), said:
In light of the upcoming Halloween season, we welcome the government funding for trading standards to investigate the safety of children鈥檚 fancy dress costumes. CTSI takes issues of product safety very seriously, and hopes the evidence gathered as part of this investigation will help to establish whether the current flammability standards are still fit for purpose.
皇冠体育app government is also supporting on 21 October, a national fire safety campaign led by the , to raise awareness on the dangers of fire.
Notes to editors:
- Trading Standards will test the costumes against European Standard EN 71-2 which specifies flammability requirements for toys.
- 皇冠体育app safety requirements of safety for children鈥檚 fancy dress costumes are covered by EU Directive 2009/48/EC on the safety of toys, transposed into UK law by the .