Most parents believe that once their toddler is placed in a baby walker, they are free and safe to roam about.
For babies, this product offers a certain amount of security and, to an extent, frees the parent for some time to be able to focus on other activities. However, this is not always the case.
A portion of baby walkers found on the European market today do not properly support the child and do not provide sufficient protection. This puts the child at risk.
Over the past few months, Product Safety Enforcement Forum of Europe (Prosafe) has actively enquired into the safety of baby walkers and discovered some revelatory results.
The baby walkers joint action is just one of the 2009 joint actions organised by Prosafe, which involved 12 member states actively participating. Malta is active in this joint action through the Malta Standards Authority.
The action tested 36 different baby walker brands and models in an effort to assess the level of compliance to EN 1273; a European standard harmonised under the General Product Safety Directive.
From tests carried out on samples taken from the markets of the different participating member states, 19 baby walkers (53 per cent) were found to comply with the requirements. These include stability (dynamic and static), prevention from falling down steps, the strength of the baby walker, folding mechanisms, minimum seat height, as well as (if present) parking devices. However, 17 baby walkers (47 per cent) were noted to have failed one or more of these requirements.
Market Surveillance Authorities taking part in the joint action are working in their member states to take the necessary actions to ensure that products are safe and to ensure that risks to consumers are minimised.
Furthermore, the authorities will be communicating any action taken in their country to other member states to ensure that all products posing a serious risk are removed from markets across Europe. A conference will be held on the subject in mid-November to discuss these issues and present the findings of this joint action.
A few weeks ago, the Malta Standards Authority notified Rapex about a dangerous baby walker on the local market (the EU rapid alert system for all dangerous consumer products).
This baby walker was one of two tested under this joint action. The brand is Alexis and its country of origin is China. This baby walker poses an injury risk to toddlers because when pushed over an edge, it does not come to a halt.
Furthermore, this baby walker is not equipped with any device that would prevent it from falling down the stairs. In essence, the product does not comply with the relevant European Standard EN 1273.
While distributors have voluntarily agreed to withdraw this product from the market, they are also being held responsible by the Malta Standards Authority to carry out a product recall from consumers who have already purchased this type of baby walker.
The authority advises parents who are thinking of purchasing a baby walker to consult the seller and establish whether the product complies with the EN 1273 standard. Additionally, if purchasers have any queries, they should call the Malta Standards Authority on 2395 2000 for more information.