Bunnings - Product quality and safety

Bunnings has an extensive range of products that are used in conjunction with safety instructions and personal protective equipment, including gardening equipment, hand and power tools and electrical products. 

The safety and wellness of Bunnings team members and customers remain its highest priority. Bunnings aims to ensure any product purchased from Bunnings will be safe, fit for purpose and comply with the relevant Australian, New Zealand and international or voluntary standards. 

Bunnings monitors the performance of product quality and safety through multiple channels and conducts product safety inspections to ensure conformance with applicable mandatory standards.   

In April 2023, Bunnings conducted an independent product safety labelling assessment to identify continuous improvement opportunities. During the year, Bunnings commissioned a review across selected categories of products sold by weight, volume or measurement to monitor compliance to trade measurement laws and consumer expectations.  

During the year, Bunnings worked closely with suppliers to transition to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) new, mandatory button battery design and labelling standards to improve child safety. This saw Bunnings withdraw and rework products containing button cell batteries from stores in line with the new standard. To support the transition, an independent review was facilitated for consumer products containing button batteries and a guideline detailing Bunnings’ expectation on design, testing and labelling was communicated to suppliers.  Subsequently, a recall was initiated in May 2023 for a torch that did not comply with the standard.   

Bunnings’ product safety program also focused on improving on-pack and in-aisle communications for pest control products, to further enhance team member and customer safety education.   

During the year, Bunnings maintained its ISO9001 quality certification requirements and conducted third-party inspections for high-risk electrical products. This helps to improve transparency on quality indicators for electrical products, prior to shipping to Australia and New Zealand.  

In the coming year, there will be a focus on strengthening product sourcing processes to apply additional due diligence requirements for exclusive and directly sourced products. In New Zealand, there will be a continued focus on improvements to capturing, storing and supplying documentation in line with new regulations for building products.