Recommendation 3

We welcome the Government’s decision to compel Whirlpool to recall up to 800,000 of its defective and potentially dangerous tumble dryers. However, it took far too long to make this decision, which has transformed the situation. Now the recall is in place, 53,889 machines have been made safe or replaced in four months; before the recall, it took 20 months to make 45,000 machines safe. We recommend that the Government reviews and reports on how Trading Standards and OPSS dealt with Whirlpool and set out what lessons can be learnt for dealing with future product safety issues, especially in terms of product recalls for large and mass purchased white goods. We also recommend that OPSS and the Minister keep the pressure up on Whirlpool and continue to publish regular updates on progress.