Warning to Phil & Teds over safety concerns with teddy bears

29 March 2016

Warning to Phil & Teds over safety concerns with teddy bears

Phil and Teds Most Excellent Buggy Company Limited (Phil & Teds) have been issued with a warning by the Commerce Commission after 10 of its teddy bears were tested and did not comply with the prescribed product safety standard for children’s toys.

Around 5,000 ‘phil&teddy’ bears were donated by Phil & Teds to be given to young children post-operation in Wellington, Waikato and Christchurch Hospitals between 2010 and early 2015.

The Commission investigated whether the teddy bears complied with the New Zealand children’s toys safety requirements after a complaint to the Children’s Ward at Wellington Hospital. No bears were supplied to children after the complaint was laid on 4 February 2015.

Of the 10 teddy bears sent by the Commission for testing, all of them posed a potential choking hazard. This was because during testing either the seam came apart (exposing the stuffing) or the fur came off.

Commerce Commission Head of Investigations, Ritchie Hutton, said businesses need to be aware of their duty to ensure the toys they supply meet New Zealand safety requirements.

“Our role in enforcing the toy safety standard is to ensure toys that appeal to children under three years old do not pose a choking risk. This is because most babies and toddlers do not have a developed coughing reflex.”

“This investigation highlighted areas of concern for the Commission which all traders should be aware of. One is that the bears had been tested to comply with the European toy standard, but not to the New Zealand one.”

“In all cases it’s the traders’ responsibility to ensure the products they sell or give away comply at a minimum with the New Zealand safety standard prescribed in the Regulations. It’s not good enough to rely on information provided by manufacturers without taking steps to ensure it’s accurate.”

“The other, is that traders must not rely on old testing. If you re-order a product over time you need to ensure that future orders of the product also comply with the safety standards,” Mr Hutton said.

As a result of the Commission’s investigation, Phil & Teds carried out a public recall of all of the teddy bears, asking parents to dispose of the bears. This recall was done through notices in major New Zealand newspapers and through Phil & Teds own social media channels and website. The company also took steps to improve compliance procedures for their non-business as usual products.

After considering the remedial action taken by Phil & Teds the Commission considered that a warning was appropriate.

ends

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