Dangerous products in primary dwellings can lead to fires
Companies that provide purpose-built accommodation, including student accommodation and residential care homes, are exposed on a daily basis to risk damage, both financial and reputational. This is caused by faulty electrical equipment which is subject to a recall notice or safety advisory by the manufacturer. This risk is possibly already present in the properties that you manage. Only regular checks will identify items at risk.
There are tens of millions of unsafe appliances in circulation today, leading to weekly fires and safety events occurring. Historically, the majority of fires have been due to large appliances, but as the number of lithium-battery-powered appliances increases, so do the number of fires. Today even the most innocuous items can cause serious fires. Fires in multi-occupancy dwellings are a risk not only to the owners of the items but also to other residents of a property and neighbouring properties.
According to the Home Office, in the 12 months ending September 2023, there were 39,045 building fires in England. Every week in England alone, there are approximately 61 fires caused by faulty goods.1 This demonstrates a clear need for people and businesses to have an easy and effective tool to check if their products have been deemed faulty and subsequently recalled by manufacturers.
A YouGov survey, commissioned by Infoo in 20232, reveals a concerning gap in the public’s awareness regarding the safety of the products they use daily in their homes. The study shows that 67% of adults in the UK have not checked whether their appliances have been recalled by manufacturers, inadvertently increasing the risk of accidents at home, and 46% of the non-compliant responders cited a lack of knowledge on how to check recalls as the primary reason for their inaction. This followed a YouGov survey commissioned in 2021. The findings of both surveys correlated, reinforcing Infoo’s belief that this is an issue of importance.
Overview of the market
Given their nature, household appliances and devices are products that are always going to be necessary to everyday life. There are around 170 million large white goods in use in the UK (AMDEA). The Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) sector is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.5% between 2023 and 2030 (Cognitive Research). In 2024, the revenue in the Household Appliances market in the United Kingdom amounts to US$10.55 billion. It is projected that the market will experience an annual growth rate of 3.83% (CAGR 2024–2028) (Statista). With this growth comes increased risk.
Information Regarding Faulty and Dangerous Products is Difficult to Access
The existing pathways for communicating recalls and product safety notices are inadequate and ineffective. Worryingly, in the UK, only 10–20% of recalled appliances actually get recalled, and therefore, the necessary repairs are not carried out.
Historically, each manufacturer was responsible for communicating a product recall to the market. Often, once the announcement was made, little else was done to follow up with owners.
The process of identifying recalled products currently falls to the owners of the products and is a complicated process to carry out. Until now, no electronic system has existed that automates the process. To find out if an appliance is subject to recall, you would need to go to numerous government and public databases and search manually. You would also need to trail through manufacturers’ own websites and often look through press articles to ensure you capture all recalls. This process needs to be repeated on a regular basis to ensure that new recalls are not released that cover any of the items you own. Manufacturers do not keep records of recalls online indefinitely, so for older appliances, not identifying them immediately might mean they are missed in the future.
Taking action is important
Risk management is a fundamental part of executive and operational standards and practice but often excludes the inherent danger from faulty appliance and devices.
Every organisation that looks after purpose-built accommodation is required to execute comprehensive due diligence concerning the risk of the faulty electrical equipment they provide to customers/users.
The cost of missing recalls is judged in both financial, human and reputational terms. For an organisation whose properties are used by a large number of clients, the risks are significant. Already this year a fire has occurred in a PBSA property which caused significant damage and injuries to a number of students.
In addition to the appliances provided by property owners, there is also danger arising from the electrical items owned and used by the occupants. A simple way for both parties to check their electrical items and have them tracked for risk in real time is essential.
Infoo is the solution to mitigate the risks posed by dangerous appliances
There is now a way to help to minimise the risk specifically relating to faulty electrical goods and maximise due diligence. This comes in the form of a company named Infoo.
Infoo is built on the idea of leveraging technology in order to take the pain out of the process. For the first time, it is possible to automatically identify electrical items and cross-reference them against all the recalls in the UK.
Once identified, these products can be tracked in real time to ensure that new recalls do not pose a danger. Where items are difficult to identify, such as hobs, AI is used to do this job for you and only those deemed ‘at risk’ need to be investigated further.
Infoo’s mission is solving the product recall and safety information problem faced by multiple growing markets. This problem causes preventable injuries, property and reputational damage and sadly sometimes leads to deaths. Infoo is at the forefront of providing innovative solutions to address appliance safety, helping to identify dangerous recalled products. Infoo has compiled the most comprehensive product safety recall dataset in the UK, which extends beyond publicly available information, drawing from a wide range of sources.
What does Infoo do?
Infoo has built, and updates on a daily basis, a comprehensive recall database. The Infoo technologies allow for users to scan product labels to check against the comprehensive database. Infoo’s Product Safety Verification service provides actionable appliance data to its commercial customers under a Safety as a Service (SaaS) model, allowing for informed decisions regarding appliances and devices for which the owner/user is responsible.
To facilitate this, Infoo offers several accessible methods, which can be tailored to meet your business needs: through a smartphone App, allowing for easy access for on-site engineers, a web Interface, which is suitable for office-based checks, and API integration, which facilitates direct integration with existing systems for seamless operation. Once a product has been scanned and checked for its recall status, this will be tracked going forward, and if it is subject to a new recall, then Infoo can flag this either to the owner of the property or directly to the customer. Infoo’s service is very easy to adopt, and once everything is up and running, it requires minimal action from you.
Who is using Infoo’s service?
Infoo has developed key partner relationships, including a multi-year sponsorship agreement with London Fire Brigade and a primary authority partnership with Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards, combined with a commitment to a joint effort to produce a recognised ‘kitemark’ for a recall checking standard in the retail sector. These relationships facilitate information sharing, further enhancing the data offering for Infoo’s clients.
Infoo is still a relatively new company, but securing these partnerships with market leaders early on in its journey is a testament to the importance of the service that it is offering.
Cost
Can you afford not to work with Infoo? The cost of utilising Infoo’s services is minimal compared to the financial and reputational risk of having a fire or safety event take place at one of your premises. Infoo operates on a SaaS basis, with a transaction fee for each completed search. Additionally, Infoo offers the option to white-label its services to fully align with your branding and customer engagement strategies.
If you would like Infoo to help protect your business’s reputation, and more importantly, the people that use the appliances and devices that you provide, then get in touch with Infoo today:
Paul Livett, CEO – paul@infoo.com, 07879518618
Adam Tulk, COO – adam@infoo.com, 07764922585
Or for more information, go to www.infoo.com
References
1. As per Electrical Direct statistics from 2021, there are approximately 55 household fires a week caused by electrical items. With the inclusion of figures from The Guardian in 2023 on lithium battery fires, this goes up to over 61 fires a week. https://www.electricaldirect.co.uk/blog/which-appliances-cause-the-most-fires-at-home, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/may/02/e-bike-e-scooter-battery-fires-uk-data
2. Infoo commissioned a YouGov survey in July 2023. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).
Total sample size in 2023 was 2230 adults and fieldwork was undertaken between 17 and 18 July 2023.
Total sample size in 2021 was 2106 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 12 and 15 March 2021.
About the Author
Paul Livett
Paul Livett is a technology entrepreneur with a record in starting up and building a number of successful businesses. Through first-hand experience of running a significant European product recall for a major UK equestrian equipment manufacturer, Paul has extensive knowledge of UK and European product recall data, practices and requirements. He was a co-founder of GroundSure, the environmental data business. Over a seven-year period he grew the business from 3 to 67 employees and turned it into the leader in its field in the UK. He was also MD of Online Research Agency, the first truly online market research company. Paul gained his MBA from Durham University.
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