Recommendation 13

The Government should be applauded for introducing new tougher tests for the backing on fridge freezers and for working with international safety bodies to bring about change. However, the OPSS and the Minister need to clarify exactly what the new standard seeks to achieve and what it intends to do about the plastic-backed fridges already in the supply chain and those being sold second hand, both online and in high street shops. We recommend that OPSS and the Government make a clearer statement about plastic-backed fridges, indicating that they should no longer be manufactured, and setting out a grace period for the removal of such machines from supply chains and second-hand markets.