Highland Libraries issue health and safety warning

The Highland Council’s Libraries Service and Highland Trading Standards are issuing a warning this week to parents and carers of children who have received blue bear soft toys from the Council’s Library Service.

Hundreds of Highland Pre-school children who have completed the Bookstart Book Crawl in their local library received a blue bear as a gift.

Reports have however been received from other local authorities that the plastic nose on a number of these bears has been found to detach, causing a potential choking hazard to a young child.

Tests carried out by Trading Standards in Scotland has shown that although not all the bears supplied are affected, sufficient numbers have failed in order to justify a warning being issued.

The Libraries Service and Highland Trading Standards as a precaution would therefore urge parents and carers to remove the bears from any children under three years old and either dispose of them or only allow them to be used under supervision.

Joyce Watson, Highland Council’s Library and Information Services Co-ordinator said: “We apologise to anyone who will be affected by this advice however we hope that they will appreciate that we have the health and welfare of their children foremost in our thoughts.”