Australia’s first International Button Battery Awareness Day aims to spread further awareness about the dangers of button batteries among schools, parents, caregivers and childhood educators through the delivery of an educational program designed for early childhood and primary school aged children. In Australia, around 20 children a week present to an emergency department with a button battery related injury – that’s over 1,000 children every year, read more here. Children under the age of 5 years are at the greatest risk. Through the promotion of International Button Battery Awareness Day, it hoped that together we can ensure all schools, early childhood centres, homes and workplaces are button battery safe, find out more here.
ACCC About button batteries includes risks and injuries, buying tips, safe use, and list of products recalled due to not complying with the ACCC mandatory safety standards series. Standards Australia technical committee CS-118 Button batteries has been working on a new Australian standard that specifies additional requirements and recommendations and promotes consumer safety by providing minimum requirements for button/coin batteries, including their usage, packaging, and disposal. Consumers Federation of Australia (CFA) engages with these issues by supporting a representative to the committee which anticipates publishing the Australian standard in the next few months.
Find out how CFA ensures the consumer voice is heard in the standards development process via the CFA Standards Project and how you can get involved.