10,000 Unsafe Adaptors Sold Online, and No One's Legally Liable

Every single travel adaptor pulled from four major online marketplaces this summer failed UK safety testing. Not most of them. Everyone. As the law stands today, the platforms that sold them carry no direct legal responsibility for what left their warehouses.

The investigation came from Electrical Safety First, the consumer safety charity, which bought 14 travel adaptors from AliExpress, eBay, Amazon Marketplace and TikTok Shop and sent them for independent testing. All 14 failed. The charity estimates, based on the listings themselves, that more than 10,000 of these unsafe units may already have reached UK homes. Timed for the peak holiday season, it reads like a consumer story. But scratch the surface and it's a workplace one too, and it points to a regulatory shift that every duty holder should be watching.

Key Takeaways

• All 14 travel adaptors tested by Electrical Safety First from major online marketplaces failed UK safety checks.
• Six of eight 'universal' adaptors let multiple live pins sit exposed at once — up to 240 volts within finger's reach.
• The same marketplaces supplying holidaymakers also supply offices, site cabins and workshops.
• Marketplaces currently hold no express statutory duty for product safety — but the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 is set to change that.
• Procurement is a safety control. Where and how you buy portable electrical equipment is a risk decision, not an admin one.

What Did the Investigation Actually Find?

The findings are worth stating plainly, because the detail is where the danger lives.

A legal universal travel adaptor is built so that only one set of plug pins can be exposed at any moment. That single design rule is what stops a user touching live metal. In six of the eight universal adaptors tested, more than one set of pins could be pushed out and live simultaneously, meaning someone could come into contact with up to 240 volts. Touch that with wet hands and the consequences can be fatal.

It got worse from there. Six adaptors were labelled as offering surge protection; when opened up, no surge protection device was fitted at all. The pins on all eight universal adaptors failed the dimensional and mechanical strength requirements, meaning they could snap off inside a socket. And when six samples went through a glow-wire flammability test, every single one failed, with flames taking hold of the plastic casing rather than self-extinguishing. These devices will feed a fire.

Perhaps the most uncomfortable detail for anyone who trusts a star rating: one of the adaptors carried almost 9,000 reviews, and a basic model flagged in the same investigation was marked as 'Amazon's Choice'. Popularity, it turns out, is no proxy for safety.

Why Should a Health and Safety Professional Care About Holiday Gadgets?

Because the suitcase isn't the only place these adaptors end up. In three and a half decades of walking workplaces, I've lost count of the times I've found consumer-grade electrical kit doing a job it was never certified for.

The adaptor charging a phone on a reception desk. The multi-way extension bought online to power a bank of laptops in a training room. The travel adaptor a contractor brings to a site cabin because the client's kit is European. The same marketplaces, the same sellers, the same untested imports — only now they're plugged into your premises, and the duty to keep people safe is yours.

Under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, work equipment must be suitable and safe for its intended use. The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require electrical systems to be constructed and maintained to prevent danger. Neither regulation cares whether a device came from a trade supplier or a marketplace listing at 11pm. If it's in use at work and it's dangerous, the responsibility sits with the employer. A cheap adaptor that fails a glow-wire test isn't a consumer nuisance in that setting; it's a fire risk on your risk assessment.

Who Is Legally Responsible When a Marketplace Product Is Unsafe?

Right now, the honest answer is not the marketplace, at least not directly. And that's the gap this story exposes.

Traditional product safety law was built around a clear chain: manufacturer, importer, distributor, retailer. Online marketplaces don't fit neatly into any of those boxes. A platform can host a listing from an overseas seller, take the payment, handle the logistics, and still argue it was merely an intermediary. Under the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016, marketplaces have carried no express statutory duty to ensure the products sold through them are safe. Enforcement has fallen to the Office for Product Safety and Standards and Trading Standards, chasing individual listings after the harm is done.

To their credit, the platforms named in the investigation have acted since it was published — AliExpress, for instance, removed listings and began a recall process. But reactive removal, listing by listing, is not the same as legal accountability for what gets sold in the first place.

Is the Law About to Change?

Yes, and this is where safety professionals can genuinely get ahead of the curve. The gap is closing.

The Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 received Royal Assent in July 2025, giving government the powers to modernise the UK's product safety regime for the first time in two decades. In March 2026, the Department for Business and Trade and OPSS launched a consultation, which ran until late June, on a new framework built directly on those powers. Its centrepiece is a set of statutory duties for online marketplaces: to take reasonable steps to prevent, identify and remove dangerous products, to run due-diligence checks on sellers, and, for higher-risk goods, to assure themselves of compliance before a listing even goes live.

The detail will land in secondary legislation, and the timeline isn't fixed. But the direction is unmistakable. The era of the marketplace as a blameless middleman is ending, and duty holders who understand where responsibility is heading will be the ones ready when it arrives.

What Should You Do About It Now?

You don't need to wait for the secondary legislation to act. Treat procurement as the safety control it has always been. Here's where I'd start:

• Audit what's already plugged in. Walk your premises and look for consumer-grade adaptors, chargers and extension leads. Ask where they came from.
• Set a purchasing rule. Buy portable electrical equipment from reputable, traceable suppliers — not marketplace listings chosen on price and star rating.
• Check the markings, but don't trust them blindly. UKCA and CE marks can be faked. Verify the seller and manufacturer details, and be wary of missing fuses or surge-protection claims that can't be evidenced.
• Fold it into your inspection regime. Portable appliance checks should catch the obvious physical failures — loose pins, damaged casings, overheating.
• Educate your people. A quick toolbox talk on why the cheapest online adaptor is a false economy does more than any policy document filed and forgotten.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Online Marketplaces Legally Responsible for Unsafe Products in the UK?

Currently, online marketplaces have no express statutory duty under UK product safety law to ensure the goods sold through their platforms are safe, though the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 is expected to introduce such duties through forthcoming secondary legislation. Enforcement presently sits with the Office for Product Safety and Standards and Trading Standards.

What Makes a Travel Adaptor Unsafe?

Common dangerous faults include multiple sets of plug pins that can be live at once, missing fuses or safety shutters, pins that fail strength requirements and can snap off in a socket, and casings that fail flammability testing. Fake safety markings and false surge-protection claims are also frequent.

Do Workplace Health and Safety Rules Cover Cheap Online Electrical Equipment?

Yes. The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 apply to any electrical equipment used at work, regardless of where it was bought. An employer remains responsible for ensuring it is safe and suitable for use.

Product safety law is shifting fast, and the professionals who see it coming are the ones who stay compliant. Join the Astutis Quarterly Newsletter for regulatory analysis you can act on or explore more from the This Week in Health and Safety series on the Astutis Hub.