100% Unsafe

When I hear that nothing in a tested product category is safe, I have to back up and look again. “That can’t be right,” I say to myself. “Surely there’s something wrong with the sample size, or methodology and I should dig deeper.”

Well, although that might be my first instinct, digging deeper often bears out the initial claim. And that’s definitely the case when it comes to USB travel chargers. In a recent investigation conducted in China by the Consumer Council, a Hong Kong-based watchdog organization, every USB travel charger tested failed. Every single one. That means that users of ten popular international USB travel chargers could be exposed to electrical shocks from short-circuiting. The samples tested were all USB multi-use chargers, designed for consumers that don’t want to take more than one adapter on trips, especially overseas, and marketed as “travel USB chargers.” That’s because these adapters are multi-purpose, and also serve as USB chargers and can be used in multiple countries.

If you’re sourcing one of these chargers as a convenience item for your clients, know in advance they are considered dangerous, with a track record that’s sketchy at best. If you are working with suppliers who recommend any of the following brands, you might want to find new suppliers. The brands tested by the Consumer Council that failed protection tests include:

• Skross

• Maxtron

• Lifetrons

• Zendure

• Momax

• Verbatim

• ecDigi

• Adam Elements

There were two unbranded products tested. All were made in China except for the Skross adapter, which came from Thailand.

All 10 samples lacked sufficient insulating distance between the USB transformer and the circuit, which increased the chance of triggering the circuit breaker. Warnings such as “Does Not Convert Voltage” and “For Use With Grounded Products Only” were not placed on any of the tested products.

All of the samples tested heated up beyond standard limits when in use, although the eight branded products had protective fuses and thermal cut-outs that stopped the charging process when the device got too hot.

Adapters from Adam Elements chargers posed a risk of electric shocks, as some metal parts were exposed and could be touched by consumers.

Speaking on the topic of USB travel chargers, council member Professor Wong Kam-fai advised: “If you observe something abnormal, stop using it and get a better one …  the adapters can be very risky.”

On a related safety-specific topic, you may have heard that Zen Magnets won its latest battle in Federal Court in Colorado with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. We’ve talked about these rare earth magnets and their inherent safety risks before, so there is no need to rehash the history. Bottom line is you can source them again, if you dare. Zen Magnets’ Founder, Shihan Qu, was quick to announce the victory, and while it may be a substantive one for Zen Magnets, the judge’s decision is a win for the CPSC, too. That’s because it clarifies the agency’s authority to declare products substantial product hazards, and order future mandatory recalls.

Among others, two important favorable rulings on substantive issues benefit the Commission. First, the CPSC was within its power to say the magnet sets contained a design defect and that warnings do not, mitigate the risk of injury. As such, the CPSC is now able to rely on foreseeable misuse of a product to substantiate a product defect. This just makes common sense—consumers are likely to do anything despite warnings (can you say “Tide Pod Challenge”?). But that fact and any number of warnings doesn’t make the risk from an unsafe product disappear.

How about you? Have you gone through your catalog and thought about items that are putting your clients at risk, no matter how many warnings are given? Maybe your clients would just prefer not to source certain products at all, which is the ultimate guarantee of product safety for their brand. Either way, a conversation with your clients about product safety is pretty much always warranted.