Counterfeit goods and the Damage they can cause

Buyer beware should be the philosophy at the front of your mind when Christmas shopping this year. The internet has made it much easier for counterfeit goods to be sold to unsuspecting purchasers.

Hair straighteners are one of those products that are now being counterfeited. It was reported that a member of the public who purchased branded straighteners believing them to real later suffered considerable damage to her hair.

As the goods are counterfeit this hugely limits her potential in being able to bring a claim for the injury she has suffered from this product. The manufacturers will not be liable as they did not produce the goods and it is likely to be very difficult to be able to locate the seller.

APIL comments on Regulation of the Hairdressing Industry

Following Martyn Trenerry attendance at a reception at the House of Commons hosted by David Morris MP who introduced a 10 minute Bill promoting better regulation of the hairdressing industry. Deborah Evans, Chief Executive of The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has made the following statement

 “Terrible injuries, including chemical burns, anaphylactic reactions, scarring and blood poisoning are too frequent for the hairdressing industry to continue to be left to its own devices. As a result of Parliament’s failure to act we will unfortunately continue to see these injuries in their hundreds each year. For MPs to dismiss this issue so quickly is very disappointing.

We can hope that, at the very least, the Bill has made people aware of the risks carried by particular treatments so they will seek to visit a qualified, professional hairdresser who can handle them with the expertise they need and deserve.”

STATE REGISTRATION FOR HAIR DRESSERS: THE FACTS

Martyn Trenerry, specialist personal injury solicitor, president of the Trichological Society and founder of HairLawyers recently attended a reception at the House of Commons hosted by David Morris MP who has introduced a 10 minute Bill promoting better regulation of the hairdressing industry. The event was supported by the Hair Council

The following information is extracted from the Hair Council’s Leaflet.

• Hair dressing has a £5 billion turnover
• There are 245,000 people working in the  hairdressers industry in the UK- that 1% of the total UK workforce
• There are 34,000 salons
• There are 38.8 million consumers
• Most consumers believe hairdressers have to be qualified before they can practise on the public and are shocked when they find out this is not the case
• Outside of family members, women now rank hairdressers as one of the top five professionals they confide in alongside their doctor, nurse and priest.
• Hairdressers are expected to use dangerous chemicals to achieve a desired look.

YET THE HAIR DRESSING INDUSTRY IS COMPLETELY UNREGULATED

Unlike other 'hands on' industries ranging from doctors, nurses, dentists, chirop­odists and dentist hygienists, hairdressing stands alone in being unregulated. Other profession such as gas fitters, taxi drivers and electricians all have a regis­ter of qualified practitioners. Hairdressers should be drawn into line with these other professions

The Current Situation

Currently anybody without a single day's training can set up as a hair­dresser, open a salon and practise on the public. They can employ other unqualified hairdressers who also practise on the public using chemicals that can ruin lives. They can even show the new unqualified hairdressers what to do without really knowing themselves.

There is currently an Act of Parliament (The Hairdressers Registration Act 1964) where qualified hairdressers can voluntarily become regis­tered. Currently there are only 5% of hairdressers on the register. Despite this, the entire hairdressing industry are behind the campaign for regis­tration.

What the Hairdressing Council are campaigning for

The Hairdressing Council are campaigning for the current Act to have a simple update to make it mandatory for all those coming into the hair­dressing industry to be taught to a standard where they are competent in whatever aspect of hairdressing they carry out. David Morris MP is a member of the Hairdressing Council and is looking for support for his ten minute Bill - the first step to achieve this.

Those already practising in the Hairdressing industry would need to join the register when moving work place either through qualification or time service proof. Anyone new joining the industry would have to be quali­fied.

Benefits to Mandatory Registration

The Hairdressing industry will be seen as the profession it is - one to be proud to work in. The consumer will have the knowledge that the person doing their hair has been trained to a required standard

It would prevent those who wish to practise on the public, without any training, doing so.