Mislabeled high fire risk kids nightwear recalled by Big W

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDApr 1 2010

Big W stores in Australia have apologized after selling inflammable children’s night wear labeled as “low fire danger”. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) deputy chair Peter Kell said in a statement, "The ACCC enforces a mandatory standard for the labelling of children's nightwear,” "It is designed to reduce the risk of burns injuries to children by providing specific information on the fire hazard," he said. "There is considerable research which shows that clear labelling helps minimise the risk of these injuries, which is why the ACCC regularly monitors compliance."

Woolworth Ltd., the owners of Big W have already recalled nightwear styles including 19 of these in Pink Sugar and Bed Bugs Girls Single Nighties range and 8 in the Selected Sleepwear Nite Club Boys Nightwear range. These have been recalled since September 1 last year.

This development came into news after flammability testing by the ACCC. The regulatory authorities criticize the fact that manufacturers Vinetex must have already known the flammability risk in their internal testing protocols. "Test reports obtained by Vinetex and Big W before the ACCC's investigation should have alerted them to the likelihood of the garments failing the standard before they were made available to consumers," the ACCC said on Tuesday.

Woolworths in remorse for this serious labeling offence has offered to pay $200,000 to the Sydney Children's Hospital at Randwick and another $200,000 for research into the mandatory safety standard. Vinetex has also pledged to establish a compliance program for improvement in controls and protocols.

People who have already bought the mislabelled nighties can return them to their Big W stores for a refund or replacement. Fortunately according to Big W, no injuries have been reported.

Big W Director Julie Coats said that this should have been detected at the stores.

"We should have detected the garments supplied to us did not comply with the mandatory product safety standard….We have had an independent expert review our quality assurance procedures and we are taking necessary steps to ensure this doesn't happen again…Big W takes compliance and the safety of its customers very seriously and sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused to customers."