Safety recommendation
It is recommended that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy highlights to the general public the dangers of button/coin cell batteries.
Response:
In line with the recommendation made by HSIB, OPSS has commissioned a public awareness campaign to highlight the dangers of button batteries. The campaign materials are targeted towards parents of young children, with the aim of increasing awareness of the risks in this key group. The campaign was launched on 27 June 2019 through GOV.UK, with two main safety charities RoSPA [Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents] and CAPT [the Child Accident Prevention Trust ] also hosting the campaign material and sharing the messages across media platforms to deliver a broader reach. A joint campaign with Netmums was also launched later on 30 August.
When sharing safety messages on button batteries, the OPSS twitter account has used the hashtags #ButtonBatteries which has reached106,989 accounts and #BeBatteryAware which has reached 86,343 accounts by early August 2019. The GOV.UK page has received 627-page views, whilst our leaflets and posters have been downloaded 157 times.
The button battery safety campaign will be revisited before Christmas for the OPSS Toys at Christmas safety campaign. The campaign will also be revisited at regular intervals in the future such as for CAPT’s summer Child Safety Week and holiday times.
Responses received on 23 September 2019.