HQTS Interviews EEESafe CEO Robert Alexander on the Safety concerns of the Right to Repair Movement in Europe

  Posted by: electime      19th May 2021

 We have read much debate recently about the Right To Repair movement (R2R) in the EU. Particularly noticeable is the Manufacturers edict that supply of Technical information will only be supplied to Professional Repairers. When we met AMDEA (the Trade Association for Appliance Manufacturers), they declared that Professionals were see as people with Qualifications. Unsurprisingly, we saw that this was met with cries of derision from the movement. The ignored issues by R2R centres around Product Safety and the IP of the Manufacturers products. 

R2R means exactly what it says on the label. When accepted, it simply means you have the right to repair your product. We support this at EEESafe but due consideration has to be given to the processes and impacts on society and the environment which follow them.

HQTS Group: What are the main safety issues concerning the Right to Repair Movement?

Robert Alexander: In every Electrical Appliance repair, the biggest danger to the repairer and the consumer is Electricity. The dangers of following online advice, videos and learning from a volunteer, or indeed learning from anyone who genuinely knows what they are doing, begs some important questions. Does an author, volunteer or DIY repairer, really know what they are doing and how do they prove it. Is a monkey see, monkey do approach the right way to learn something that should be done with trained and methodical approaches where comprehension of the teacher is externally assessed? Where is the proof that they understand Ohms law and what are the dangers of not knowing? 

Then there are consumers to consider. Full of self-confidence from their online learning or volunteer repairer visit, such as a Repair Café, they head off with their new-found knowledge and decide to repair the next product that comes their way. It will not be long before we see them attempt to repair items for a family member, friend, or neighbour. They may find trusted close relationships are not going to fall under any safety scrutineering of their work. However, risks remain in those homes whilst it is not repaired by a proven independently assessed competent person. We know the second-hand market is a vibrant one, particularly as we move to increase repair to prevent waste. How does the next owner know that purchased product has previously been repaired by a DIY enthusiast and is safe to use, if there is no history of professional repair to check? Are these DIY repairs not just increasing the risk of accidents waiting to happen? 

Further reasons for concerns are what materials and components were used during the repair. Sub-standard and third party components are out there, and we have no way of knowing what has been used in the process, just as we do not know what equipment has been used in testing, and whether they are calibrated to the required specifications. Product Conformance Certificates are something that the average consumer is unaware of, and why we need them. When products are first placed on the market, they must pass stringent safety tests, which include every part of the appliance, to meet regulatory standards of safety. 

Monitoring bodies such as Trading standards in the UK confirmed in 2015 that 6,500 items per day were being seized as counterfeit and we have no way of monitoring whether these products are being used in repair, by non-accountable repairers. Rogue Traders can have a field day, if we don’t have checks in place. According to the charity Electrical Safety First, around half of all domestic fires in GB, arise through electricity, at an estimated annual cost of £1Bn. They continue to cite that electricity kills one person per week and several hundred thousand experience an electrical shock each year. One death and one fire is one too many, therefore it’s clear safety should be high on the agenda, when you’re advocating a Right To Repair. From what we see online in R2R marketing, this is not the case, and we meet with silence on that matter every time we respond to their Tweets and blogs. Therefore, Manufacturers have every right to be concerned and Government Ambassadors should ensure that those they support in R2R, are correctly scrutinising safety amongst their proponents. 

With the average cost of a fire showing from that report at £44k, concerns must be raised if we are unable to ascertain components are not the originals, produced by the Manufacturers. In all the campaigns we see from R2R in USA, EU and Great Britain, we read nothing from them, informing their ardent followers, on how they are going to convince consumers and independently prove compliance of regulatory standards in repair, within in each country.

HQTS Group: How to ensure Product safety under the EU Right to Repair Initiative? 

Robert Alexander: We believe in the future that EU and other nations, passionate about R2R and Electrical Appliance Repairs, need to focus on reducing costs of repairs and utilise genuine locally stocked manufacturers recycled spares, harvested locally by consumers. This will not only will give consumers give some local control in local growth, but it can provide local revenues and lower repair costs by selling or gifting spares, to help develop local community registered repairers. Buying new appliances creates waste and in research, we have found repair costs are strong factors when consumers make their buying decisions for new or used appliances. Local repairers living at home inside the heartland of the neighbourhood, have the lowest cost overhead, the least travel, and working to the safer EEESafe standard to provide the optimal sustainability model. These trained technicians graduating from a regional EEESafe Training Centre in a Circular Economy Model and using licenced EEESafe training materials for a CE Qualification, will dovetail neatly into scaling a national model, covering White Goods and small appliance repairs at the least detriment to the environment. 

Such a model already designed, will deliver metrical evidence of their work, including carbon and waste reductions along with evidenced social outcomes. UEEESafe is designed to help R2R and explain the big EWaste issues. Our evidence shows consumers prefer to know repairers are competently proven and registered to a recognised safety standard. We believe local repairers should become Brand and Product specialists used cost-effectively to fulfil repairs in and out of warranty. This will put jobs, social value and tackling poverty at the local community level. The evidence publicly available that Circular Economy, Safety and Poverty is in action, will help accelerate the behavioural change required, to reach Net Zero Targets.

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