Council recalls torches

THE Gold Coast’s city council has recalled freely issued torches in disaster readiness packs because of a risk posed to children.

Around 30,000 of the Chinese-made LED torches which include a fridge magnet and wrist strap were circulated before yesterday’s recall.

Council issued them to residents between July 1 last year to June 30, 2017 as part of its “Get Ready” disaster preparation awareness program.

Now it is asking residents to put the flat LED torches in their recycling or return to a customer service centre or library.

A product recall notice in the Gold Coast Bulletin warned: “If the torch is continuously bent or twisted, the small lithium batteries may displace and pose a risk to small children if swallowed.”

A council spokesman said council was made aware of the problem by another Queensland council.

“Out of tens of thousands issued, one torch was damaged. We were advised this particular torch had been twisted and bent in a manner it wasn’t designed for,” the spokesman said.

“The risk to children is evident from the size of the battery. The torch is not designed for use by a child. However, the brightly coloured style of the product with a flashing light makes it attractive to small children.”

The Coast council had received no complaints from residents but Office of Fair Trading recommended the recall, the spokesman said.

Council spent $20,000 on the torches but it was funded by State Government and a refund was being asked for from the “local supplier”.