Big Red Jacks pays $12,600 fine for alleged breach of safety standard

The ACCC has issued Hai Feng International Pty Ltd, trading as Big Red Jacks Tools & Equipment (Big Red Jacks), has paid a fine of $12,600 after it allegedly breached safety standards.

The ACCC issued the infringement notice claiming it believed Big Red Jacks had supplied a vehicle jack that did not comply with the Consumer Product Safety Standard for Vehicle Jacks.

In a statement, the ACCC alleged that Big Red Jacks supplied a ‘Torin Big Red 4 ton double ram bottle jack’ (4 Ton Jack) which did not comply with both labelling and performance requirements for vehicle jacks because:

the jack was not permanently and legibly marked with specified instructions regarding its operation and its working load limit; and
the ‘overload protection’ function did not operate in some instances until the weight placed on the jack reached 8450 kg, when its nominated capacity was 4000 kg. Where fitted, the overload protection function must activate when the jack is subjected to a force no greater than 15 per cent of its nominated capacity (that is, between 4000 kg and 4600 kg for the 4 Ton Jack).

The ACCC took this enforcement action after a national surveillance project, in which it inspected 159 vehicle jacks from 99 traders. Big Red Jacks submitted a voluntary recall for the ‘Torin Big Red Jack’ and five other vehicle jacks on 21 October 2019 after the ACCC inspection.

“It can be almost impossible for consumers to detect whether products like vehicle jacks comply with mandatory standards, which is why the ACCC conducts national surveillance across a range of products each year,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said.

Isaac Bober