Our Culture - Hear it from our workers

A Day in the life of...

Trading Standards Officer

After receiving a complaint about an unsafe kettle I check our database for further details and background as to the trader who sold the product. When the kettle is boiling, the outer part of the kettle becomes very hot and the complainants husband has been injured as a result. As it is a safety issue, I want to get to the shop as soon as possible and preferably before it becomes busy. I arrive at the shop and find the kettle which the complaint relates to. I buy one and then ask to speak to the manager. I explain to the manager that we have had a complaint about the safety of the product and that I will be sending it off for testing. I label the kettle with the details of when and where it was purchased and place it in a plastic bag and seal the bag, for evidential purposes. The manager provides me with details of who had supplied the product to them, so I return to the office and get in touch with the Trading Standards Department where the supplier is based, to make them aware of the possible safety issue.

One of my colleagues is going to the test house this morning, to deliver other samples, so will take the kettles for testing. I write a letter giving instructions to the test house indicating that I require the kettle to be tested for compliance with the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations.

I telephone the complainant to keep them updated as to what is happening with the complaint.

I have an appointment later on in the morning with an internet based trader, so I check their website, and make a note of any problem areas, so I may discuss these issues with them later. I also assemble some guidance booklets and information leaflets relevant to the business, ready for them to take away.

The internet trader arrives for our appointment. We discuss the problems I noticed on their website earlier in the day and discuss consumers' civil rights. She tell me about a scam which the business has recently fallen victim to. I take down the details so that I can make other traders aware, using our "Trading Standards Newsflash" system. This is an email based system which we invite all North Yorkshire traders to subscribe to, so that we can keep them updated about changes in legislation, or as in this case, about scams. The internet trader leaves, and I make the notes about the scam they have told me about into something we can send out to our Newsflash subscribers.

I am to attend court tomorrow, so I make a final check of the file and make sure I am familiar with the case and have all the necessary exhibits to hand to the magistrates.

I get some lunch before my next appointment, which is the testing of a weighing machine. The scale is used to weigh ink by a printing firm, who want to make sure that the scale is correct for their quality control systems. I test the scale and find that it is within the errors permitted for such a scale and issue them with a certificate.

I get a call from one of my colleagues. A complaint has been made to us regarding some people who are cold calling consumers, offering to carry out property maintenance work. While my colleagues are out with the police trying to find the cold callers, I am asked to go to the complainant's home and obtain a witness statement from the victim who is an elderly woman, living on her own. The complainant is quite distressed so I calm her down. We discuss the cold callers and she tells me everything she can remember, which I note down, so I can prepare the statement on my return to the office. I arrange for one of the consumer's neighbours to sit with her while she is still distressed about the cold callers. I leave the consumer's house and call my colleagues and update them with the further information the consumer was able to provide.

I return to the office, where I collect the file ready for court the following day. With my work for the day completed, I head home.

Go back to the Our Culture main page