Vehicle jacks have often been associated with serious injuries. The task of raising and supporting a motor vehicle to allow work to be carried out on the underneath of a vehicle is inherently hazardous due to the weight of the vehicle and its lack of stability when raised. This situation has resulted in serious crush injuries and deaths when vehicles have fallen onto individuals working underneath. Some injuries have been attributed to poor quality jacks, and some were attributed to unsafe work practices.
The ACCC is responsible for the administration of those mandatory product safety and information standards created under the Trade Practices Act. The mandatory product safety standard for vehicle jacks adopts (with variations) either the 1993 version or the 2003 version of Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 2693 Vehicle Jacks. The mandatory standard specifies design and construction, performance and marking requirements that vehicle jacks must meet to permit them being sold in Australia.
The ACCC has recently conducted a dedicated consumer product safety strategy targeting high lift jacks that do not comply with the mandatory consumer product safety standard for vehicle jacks. On 26 July 2006, as a result of ACCC action, high lift jacks supplied by TWM Imports Pty Ltd were declared unsafe by the Federal Court. The court found that the jacks failed to comply with both the mandatory performance and mandatory labelling requirements. The ACCC has a number of other high lift jack investigations in train.
The ACCC remains committed to consumer protection and will continue to actively enforce mandatory product safety and information standards to prevent the supply of non-compliant and unsafe goods.
FairStore
On 14 July the ACCC issued FairStore. FairStore is a best practice guide for businesses servicing Indigenous communities in rural and remote areas. It replaces an earlier ACCC publication, Storecharter.
ACCC Chairman Mr Graeme Samuel commented:
The guide has been developed in consultation with other Commonwealth and State/Territory consumer agencies as part of the National Indigenous Consumer Strategy. It will help businesses and their staff comply with fair trading laws, warranties and refunds and the provision of store credit or ‘book-up’.
Copies of FairStore are available for free by calling the ACCC Infocentre on 1300 302 502. Alternatively, Fairstore can be downloaded from the ACCC website.
