Button Battery Safety Issues Paper

No. The answer to this is clear given approximately 20 children per week present to emergency departments across Australia after swallowing/ being suspected of swallowing a button battery.

It is also clear we cannot rely on industry to self-regulate. A trip to any weekend market or even mainstream department store will demonstrate the prevalence of unsafe products available in Australia

Yes. No doubt there will be impacts on suppliers, but at the end of the day, improved product safety will be to the benefit of all Australians.

I am no expert on button batteries, but I have experienced the trauma of the rush to hospital, watching my child undergo x-rays and emergency surgery, IV drips and anaesthetic administered etc, to remove one from his stomach after he ingested it.

At 11 months, my son swallowed a button battery which came from an unsafe product (a night light). It technically had a secured battery compartment, however, as we discovered after the incident, while the screw remained in place it was still possible to open the lid and expose the batteries inside. My son found the night light after one of my older children had got it down from the top shelf of the bookcase in her room.

As a parent, I had taken all the precautions I possibly could have, save watching my then five year old every second of the day in case she decided to bring such items down from the bookcase.

While I agree there is a need for vigilance and awareness on behalf of parents and carers, there is still a very real need for a safety net - that safety need is a mandatory code and product safety legislation to ensure products like the poorly manufactured night light my son got his hands on are not available to purchase from Australian shelves. Parents and carers can not possibly watch their children every minute of the day.

Any consideration of the cost to impose mandatory codes should consider the cost incurred by Australian tax payers when our overstretched hospital system has to treat a patient who has swallowed (or is suspected of swallowing) a button battery. And this is to say nothing of the human cost borne by those who have to witness their child sustain a severe injury - or even death - as a result of button battery ingestion.

The introduction of mandatory codes and product safety legislation should come with enhanced reporting processes/ requirements for consumers. I only knew to report the unsafe product we had, after googling what to do next. It would have been helpful if at the point of discharge, the hospital had given me a handout about the need to report to the ACCC. Carers in a similar situation could be forgiven for having other things on their mind at this point in time. Perhaps there is even a role for hospitals/ medical staff to make a report to the ACCC.

I also believe Government could do more to ensure Australia is at the forefront of adopting emerging research and technology that would make button batteries safer - for example, coatings that turn saliva blue when a battery is ingested, or render a battery inert when swallowed.

Ultimately, the end goal should be to design our way to a safer alternative to button batteries. Until then, mandatory codes and product safety legislation is our only hope.