Three suppliers of imported vehicle and trolley jacks have provided court-enforceable undertakings to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission after a national product safety survey.
Two distributors, Shinn-Fu (Australia) Pty Ltd and Jutco Pty Ltd, and one retail supplier, Super Cheap Auto Pty Ltd, have undertaken to implement trade practices compliance programs after they were found to have supplied stock that did not comply with the mandatory product safety standards for vehicle and trolley jacks.
During the product safety survey conducted last year, the ACCC found stocks of non-compliant jacks at Super Cheap Auto, K-Mart (Coles Myer) and Trade Tools (Queensland) stores. The jacks involved were:
- Super Cheap Auto
- E-Z-Lift/Super Works (pantograph) Scissor Jack (1000kg)
- K-Mart
- Pro-Lift Scissor Jack (750kg)
- Trade Tools (Queensland)
- Trade Torque Hydraulic Bottle Jack (2000kg, 5000kg)
- Trade Torque Hi-Lift Trolley Jack (1800kg).
Shinn Fu (Australia) was found to have supplied the E-Z-Lift/Super Works Scissor Jacks and the Pro-Lift Scissor Jacks to Super Cheap Auto and K-Mart respectively.
Jutco had supplied the Trade Torque brand jacks to Trade Tools (Queensland).
The jacks failed to comply with the information and/or labelling requirements of the relevant mandatory standards for vehicle and trolley jacks.
In particular, both the scissor jacks were found to have labelling which did not contain the mandatory safety warning, "WARNING: DO NOT GET BODILY UNDER A VEHICLE THAT IS SUPPORTED ONLY BY A JACK: USE VEHICLE SUPPORT STANDS", which must be permanently affixed to vehicle jacks.
The Trade Torque Bottle Jacks were found to have labelling which did not contain complete information, the packaging did not contain any markings and no safe usage and maintenance instructions were provided with the jack. The Trade Torque Trolley Jack did not contain complete information on the label or provide an adequate warning notice, and did not provide complete safe usage instructions.
The ACCC raised its concerns with the companies involved. Super Cheap Auto, K-Mart (Coles Myer) and Trade Tools (Queensland) subsequently removed all of the non-compliant jacks from sale. Super Cheap Auto, Shinn Fu (Australia) and Jutco then placed recall notices in major newspapers in states where the non-compliant jacks were supplied.
All vehicle jacks (up to and including 8 tonne capacity) and trolley jacks (up to and including 2.5 tonne capacity) sold in Australia are bound by mandatory consumer product safety standards, Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 2693:1993 (vehicle jacks) and AS/NZS 2615:1995 (hydraulic trolley jacks).
"Under the Standards, all suppliers, whether at the wholesale or retail level, are responsible for ensuring their product complies with the mandatory requirements", ACCC Chairman, Professor Allan Fels, said today.
"The labelling and information requirements of the mandatory standards are equally as important as the performance standards. The majority of deaths in Australia each year involving jacks are due to misuse, not as a result of mechanical failure".