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Childcare: analysis performed before the product recall

Investigation / Labs - INQUEST carries out technical investigations on childcare equipment in its internal analysis and testing laboratory in order to support a manufacturer's decision-making process following complaints about the safety of one of its products.

Context

A company that designs and manufactures juvenile equipment has received a series of complaints from its customers. The issue at stake was a naturally swinging deckchair, which allegedly caused a child to fall while in use.

As a result of these complaints, the company is questioning the causes of the incident, but also the need for a possible product withdrawal campaign. INQUEST’s consultants were therefore called upon to investigate and provide the company with decision support, based on rigorous expertise.

INQUEST’s know-how

Through its experienced and multidisciplinary team, INQUEST is able to intervene in a multitude of professions. Its consultants carry out in-depth technical investigations on all types of raw materials, equipment, but also consumer goods. They have a global know-how ranging from furniture to tools, including, of course, childcare articles. This expertise is reinforced by the management of several thousand claims and disputes every year.

Such technical skills are implemented in two distinct areas:

  • Technical investigations: multi-specialist consultants mobilise their technical expertise to investigate the causes of failure.
  • In-lab analysis: using the state-of-the-art equipment of the product testing laboratories at their disposal, they carry out a battery of analyses to confirm the cause of the failure.

The INQUEST Mechanics & Materials laboratory was asked to test this baby toy in this specific case. All the necessary means are available to evaluate its resistance to mechanical impact, but also to validate its conformity to the standards:

  • Dynamometer
  • 3D Scanner
  • Test cage with pneumatic cylinders
  • Durometer

This enabled the INQUEST consultants to perform a series of tests reproducing the conditions of use of the children’s deckchair.

Results of the analysis

Undergoing tests in the laboratory revealed shortcomings of the product, whose safety had to be improved. The decision support provided by INQUEST’s consultants therefore resulted in two recommendations:

  • The withdrawal of products currently on the market;
  • The improvement of the assembly of the deckchair to avoid any fall in the future.
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