Product safety information for wholesale customers

Separate the customer pack from the evidence file

Prepare a customer pack for safe handling, sale and use, alongside the supporting evidence you retain. Include the model reference, product photograph, intended use, warnings, instructions and safety contact. Add declarations or supporting reports where relevant to the product and the customer's enquiry. Use the compliance file guide for organising the underlying evidence.

This handover method focuses on consumer products supplied in Great Britain. Official guidance says distributors should pass on information about product risks. Check the product category and destination before deciding what documents accompany the goods; the toy safety guide covers toy-specific checks.

Make every document match the supplied model

Show the customer model name and its corresponding factory reference on the pack index. Identify the covered variants, accessories and document revisions. Compare photographs, materials and components with the supplied goods. If a report covers a different configuration, flag the gap and resolve it before presenting that report as evidence for this model.

Give customers an approved English manual and warning text they can pass to users. Ask them to preserve safety information when repacking or preparing listings. Keep dated copies of the files actually sent, rather than relying on a download folder that changes. The supplier instructions guide explains how to prepare the manual.

Connect batches to customers and document versions

Record the batch reference against the model, delivery, wholesale customer and safety-pack revision. Include a photograph showing where the reference appears and explain how to read it. Ask customers splitting cartons to preserve the connection between individual goods and their batch.

Test the record by choosing a delivered batch and finding its recipients and issued documents. Also work backwards from a customer's product photograph to the relevant delivery. Record uncertainty where batches were mixed rather than guessing which goods are unaffected. The factory-to-customer traceability guide covers the wider record chain.

Answer enquiries against the actual goods

Provide a monitored safety contact and name the person responsible for checking replies. Ask for the model, batch, label photographs, description of the concern and any incident details. Record the enquiry, evidence reviewed, answer sent and unresolved questions. Separate a request for paperwork from a report of a possible hazard.

Answer from the relevant model file, explaining what the evidence covers and what remains unconfirmed. Avoid a blanket assurance that everything is certified. Ask the factory or laboratory to resolve missing evidence, and give the customer an interim response with the next action. Treat repeated questions about the same warning as a reason to review its clarity.

Send safety changes to affected customers

As a safety communication practice, keep distributors informed of test results, investigations or consumer feedback that may present a safety risk, and confirm applicable obligations with the relevant enforcement authority. When information changes, identify the affected models and batches, explain the hazard and state the action customers should take. Distinguish revised instructions for existing stock from changes applying only to future production.

Send the notice directly to affected contacts, attach the revised documents and identify what they replace. Ask customers to acknowledge receipt, identify remaining stock and confirm how they will contact their onward buyers. Follow up missing acknowledgements and keep the old pack with the notice and response record.

For covered consumer products in Great Britain, discovering that supplied goods are unsafe and pose consumer risks triggers immediate written notification to the relevant enforcement authority, normally local Trading Standards. Customer emails do not replace that notification. Use the imported product recall guide when withdrawal or recall needs organising.