Official Statistics

Product Safety Database report 2021 to 2022

Published 18 October 2023

1) Introduction

The United Kingdom (UK) Product Safety Database (PSD) is the notification system used by local authority trading standards (environmental health in Northern Ireland), certain national regulators and Office for Products Standards and Safety (OPSS) enforcement teams to notify unsafe and non-compliant products to the Secretary of State, as required in product safety legislation. See footnote 1 Unsafe products are those which pose a risk to the health and safety of consumers, whereas non-compliant products are those that do not conform to the relevant product safety legislation. A product can be both unsafe and non-compliant.

The PSD was introduced in November 2019 to replace two EU systems – RAPEX (Rapid Exchange of Information) and ICSMS (Information and Communication System on Market Surveillance) – in readiness for the UK leaving the EU. This enabled a transition from RAPEX/ICSMS until the end of the EU Exit transition period on 31 December 2020. OPSS no longer has access to these records, aside from to fulfil Northern Ireland Protocol commitments.

The PSD is a core dataset for OPSS, providing insight into the market surveillance activity of regulatory officers across the UK and highlighting where the greatest levels of activity are taking place in terms of product sectors, as well as providing an oversight of the most reported hazards and corrective actions taken. Analysis of PSD data can also highlight where there may be emerging safety issues for novel products and within certain sectors, which can feed into and drive OPSS’s regulatory activity and decision making to target market surveillance activity, reduce risk and protect consumers.

The report sets out high level findings from the PSD incorporating product safety and non-compliance notifications from local authorities and national regulators.

The Methodology and Quality report published alongside this report details how the data can and cannot be used.

The report provides the official estimate of the number of product and case notifications submitted to the PSD in a financial year.

Product notification numbers cannot be used to estimate the number of unsafe or non-compliant goods at a national level as there is no guarantee that all non-compliant and unsafe products are notified on the PSD.

2) Total number of notifications

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, 4,108 notifications were received on the PSD, involving 4,303 products. More than one product can be reported for each notification. Out of these, 7% of notifications were reported as presenting serious risk, and 5% of notifications were reported as presenting high risk. It should be noted that 80% of the notifications in 2021 to 2022 did not have a risk level set as risk level is not required for all notifications. See the Methodology and Quality report for more information on the definition of risk. The full list of the products which present a serious or high risk and those which have been recalled is published on the Product Recalls and Alerts website.

3) Top 10 Product Categories and Sectors

Each product safety notification includes a series of fields focusing on product identification information, one of which is a pre-coded list of product categories. The product categories are the very highest level of product classification and tend to capture entire product sectors.

View the table showing the full list of product categories.

The most frequently notified product category on the PSD was toys (26.6% of products notified) followed by electrical appliances and equipment (20.8%) and cosmetics (19.5%)

Table 1. Ten most frequently notified product categories on the PSD, 2021 to 2022

Product category	%
Toys	26.6
Electrical appliances and equipment	20.8
Cosmetics	19.5
Personal protective equipment (PPE)	8.9
Gadgets	4.4
Machinery	3.6
Clothing, textiles and fashion items	2.7
Lighting equipment	2.1
Childcare articles and children’s equipment	2
Jewellery	1.4
All other categories	8.1
Total	100

Note: the full set of categories is detailed in the data tables.

Source: OPSS PSD

Figure 1. Ten most frequently notified product categories on the PSD, 2021 to 2022

4) Top 10 Hazard Types

Table 2 outlines the frequency of the notification of different hazard types on the PSD. The list of hazards aligns with the EU’s RAPEX system as part of post-EU Exit continuity. Only notifications of products that are ‘unsafe’ or ‘unsafe and non-compliant’ have a hazard type assigned.

View the table showing the full list of hazard types.

The most frequently notified hazard was electric shock (26.7% of the unsafe products), followed by injuries (14.9%) and choking (13.8%).

Table 2. Ten most frequently notified hazard types on the PSD, 2021 to 2022

Hazard type	%
Electric shock	26.7
Injuries	14.9
Choking	13.8
Chemical	10.1
Fire	9.8
Burns	8
Health risk	4.4
Asphyxiation	2.6
Suffocation	2.1
Cuts	1.6
All other hazards	5.8
Total	100

Note: the full set of hazards is detailed in the data tables.

Source: OPSS PSD

Figure 2. Ten most frequently notified hazard types on the PSD, 2021 to 2022

5) Top 10 Corrective Actions taken

Table 3 sets out the types of corrective action listed on the PSD and the frequency with which each type of corrective action was notified in 2021 to 2022. More than one corrective action can be notified for each product, more than one product can be reported for each notification and some products do not have any corrective actions notified as the investigation has not yet concluded.

View the table showing the full list of corrective actions.

Half of all corrective actions notified in 2021 to 2022 involved the online marketplace removing the listing, and a further 15% involved the import being rejected at the border. Destruction, withdrawal or recall of the product accounted for a further 8% or 9% each of the corrective actions.

Table 3. Ten most frequently notified corrective actions on the PSD, 2021 to 2022

Corrective action	%
Removal of the listing by the online marketplace	49.9
Import rejected at border	15.3
Destruction of the product	8.7
Withdrawal of the product from the market	8.6
Recall of the product from end users	8
Temporary ban on the supply, offer to supply and display of the product	2.8
Product brought back into compliance	1.3
Making the marketing of the product subject to prior conditions	0.8
Warning consumers of the risks	0.7
Seizure of goods	0.5
All other corrective actions	3.4
Total	100

Note: more than one corrective action can be reported for each product and so the categories are not mutually exclusive.

Source: OPSS PSD

Figure 3. Corrective actions notified on the PSD, 2021 to 2022

6) Notes

The full dataset of individual categories for products, hazards and corrective actions is published alongside this report as an ODS file.

Read the guidance for market surveillance authorities setting out the notification requirements and other operational processes, including the publication of product safety information and international reporting.

Read the guidance setting out the requirements placed on business to report to the Market Surveillance Authority where a product they have placed on the market is found to be unsafe.

7) More about these statistics

More information about PSD and revisions to these statistics can be found in the accompanying Methodology and Quality report.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Responsible statistician: Deborah Lader

Enquiries: OPSSanalysis@businessandtrade.gov.uk

8) Footnotes

1: General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (GPSR), Regulation on Accreditation and Market Surveillance (RAMS) and Market Surveillance and Compliance of Products Regulation 2019/1020.