Dangerous treadmills seized at warehouse
Print Edition
MORE than 60 treadmills sold at a local supermarket and stocked at a warehouse in Jiading District have been seized by the city’s quality watchdog.
Shanghai Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau said potential mechanical safety hazards were found in an inspection yesterday.
The machines had a big gap between components that could cause runners’ fingers to be stuck, officials said.
The substandard multi-function treadmills, which have a massage function, are branded “Brother” and were sold at an outlet of RT-Mart on Xinyu Road. They are priced at 5,998 yuan (US$882). The model number is BR-8819. The bureau said the gap between the massager and transmission part of the treadmills was too large, raising safety concerns.
“These treadmills have structure flaws, and runners will easily get harmed during use,” said Chen Yong, a bureau official, who added that the gap’s space could easily contain a user’s entire palm.
“The machine is rotating with high speed when it is turned on, and users’ fingers may be twisted into it. Children are also very vulnerable because they may play with the machine.”
One treadmill with the problem was found at the RT-Mart outlet after the bureau received a tip-off from a consumer yesterday, and 11 such machines had been sold at the supermarket in the past two years, officials found.
Bureau officials then seized 67 treadmills at the Jiading warehouse.
China’s national standard on treadmills states that the placement and use of parts on them must fully protect users from injury during use. Gaps should not be bigger than the space of a forefinger, Chen said. “However, structure design flaw is a common problem of multi-function treadmills,” he said as sample checks had shown.
The problem was often neglected by Chinese manufacturers, Chen added.
The seized treadmills have been sent to laboratories for further tests. The bureau said they had been manufactured by a company in Xiamen, Fujian Province, at the commission of Shanghai Brother Product Co. Ltd.
Treadmills are popular in China as interest in health and fitness increases, but consumers should be careful when choosing them, the bureau said.
Protection of components requiring electricity and grounding safety were also concerns applying to treadmills and many businesses lacked sufficient awareness about safety designs of treadmills, the bureau said.
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