SYDNEY,
Australian
authorities issued a warning about cheap, non-compliant USB-style
chargers Friday after a young woman died from apparent electrocution
while using a laptop and possibly a smart phone.
The
28-year-old was found wearing headphones and with her computer in her
lap with burns on her chest and ears at a home in Gosford, north of
Sydney, in April.
Police are still investigating the
circumstances of the death, but the Department of Fair Trading, which
has assisted with the case, suggested a sub-standard mobile phone
charger could be to blame.
The woman, who reports said
was from the Philippines but had recently become an Australian citizen,
had headphones plugged into her laptop, which was connected to a power
socket to charge.
SAFETY STANDARDS
"The
phone was also plugged into a USB-style charger. That charger had
failed," Lynelle Collins from the New South Wales Department of Fair
Trading told AFP.
"Somehow power from that charger has
connected to her body. Whether she had it (the phone) to her ear or was
holding it in her hand, we don't know."
Collins said
ideally people should avoid using their mobile phones while the devices
were charging, but in any case they should avoid non-approved chargers.
"We
are trying to alert people to the concern that sometimes when you buy
really cheap chargers, they aren't compliant with... (safety)
standards," she said.
INFERIOR PLASTICS
Fair
Trading said it had removed a number of unapproved and non-compliant
USB-style chargers, travel adaptors and power boards from sale in Sydney
after the death.
They said the devices did not meet
essential safety requirements and were often made of inferior plastics
and other insulation materials.
"These devices pose a serious risk of electrocution or fire," Fair Trading commissioner Rod Stowe said in a statement.
Maximum
penalties for selling devices that fail Australian standards are
Aus$87,500 (US$82,500) and/or two years imprisonment for an individual
and a Aus$875,000 fine for a corporation.
The woman's
death is the only known fatality in Australia potentially linked with
the chargers, but a report from China in 2013 suggested a woman was
electrocuted while making a call on a phone that was charging.
No comments:
Post a Comment