Product confessions: incident reporting backgrounder for parents and caregivers

Organization: Health Canada

Published: 2024

ISBN: 978-0-660-75545-8

You can help keep kids and people in Canada safe.

Did you know you can report injuries, near misses or safety concerns caused by consumer products and cosmetics? It's easy and it could save lives.

It's part of Health Canada's job to help keep children and people in Canada safe from potentially harmful products — but you can help, too.

You can tell Health Canada's Consumer Product Safety Program about any injuries or near misses that happened, including property damage. You can also report any concerns you have about the safety of consumer products (like appliances, children's toys or clothing and accessories) or cosmetics (like creams, cleansers and makeup). Your reports will help us look into possible dangers and take action to help keep you and those you care about safe.

When should I report?

You should report a product if any of the following have occurred:

• Someone has been injured or nearly injured, has a bad reaction, or dies from using it
• Property has been damaged
• It could harm someone because it doesn't work like it's supposed to
• Safety instructions or labels appear to be missing, confusing or wrong

How can I submit a report?

Anyone can submit a report in just a few minutes:

• Online at Canada.ca/report-a-product
• By calling 1-866-662-0666 (toll-free)

What do I report?

You will be asked to provide information on:

• What happened and when
• What the product is and where you got it
• Any injuries or near misses that occurred and if medical treatment was needed
• How to contact you for more details about the incident (only if we need to)

You can also share photos of the product, product labels, injury or property damage caused.

Why should I report?

It's possible for some consumer products and cosmetics to cause harm. Children are even more at risk because they are less able to remove themselves from unsafe situations.

Sharing your story helps us monitor the safety of products and how they are used. It could also help prevent harm from happening to children and families, or to anyone in Canada.

What might happen?

When you report a product, it could result in:

• Products being reviewed for safety
• Monitoring for similar situations
• Warnings and safety alerts being issued
• Products being recalled or taken off the market
• Products being fixed or replaced

The more people report a certain product, the more it informs actions that can be taken.

Where can I get more information?

For more information about recalled consumer products and cosmetics visit Canada.ca/recalls.

You can learn more or submit a report at Canada.ca/report-a-product.

Your story can protect others.