Make a product safety complaint
The Office of Fair Trading has a statutory obligation to promote and ensure safety in the supply of consumer goods and services. The goal of the Consumer Product Safety Unit is to minimise the risk of consumer product-related injury.
You can submit a complaint to us about any products or product-related services that you think are unsafe.
Giving all possible details will help us investigate your complaint. You can check Product Safety Australia to see if a product has been the subject of a safety recall.
A 'product' is something:
- intended for personal, domestic or household use or consumption
- that is likely to be used for personal, domestic or household use or consumption.
A 'product-related service' is a service for or relating to:
- installation of consumer goods
- maintenance, repair or cleaning of consumer goods
- assembly of consumer goods
- delivery of consumer goods.
Specific details
Your complaint must include:
- the name of the business and specific details
- a description of the unsafe product or service
- details of why you think it’s unsafe
- copies of any evidence (e.g. samples, photos or letters)
- anything you tried to do to resolve the problem.
Complaint form
To complain about an unsafe product or product-related service, you need to fill out the product safety complaint form.
You can lodge your form by:
- mailing it to us (address details are on the form)
- emailing us at safety@justice.qld.gov.au
- visiting your nearest Fair Trading office
Injury or property damage
You may be able to seek compensation if an unsafe product:
- causes an injury
- damages your property.
We do not handle compensation claims. Talk to a lawyer with experience in product liability law. They can advise you of your best course of action.
Things we don’t investigate
We do not generally have responsibility for goods and services that are not for personal, domestic or household use, or which are regulated by specialist regulators. This includes the following items.
| Subject of complaint | Best contact agency |
|---|---|
| Motor vehicles, trailers and dangerous goods | Department of Transport and Main Roads |
| Electrical products | Electrical Safety Office |
| Workplace health and safety on amusement rides | Workplace Health and Safety |
| Industrial and construction equipment | Workplace Health and Safety |
| Gas, explosives and fireworks | Department of Resources |
| Medicines and medical devices | Therapeutic Goods Administration (Federal Government) |
| Food, drugs and poisons, and environmental toxins | Queensland Health |
See our full list of agency contacts for product safety complaints.
If you have any doubt, lodge a complaint with us. We will forward your complaint to the correct agency if we need to.