Dual unit weighing scales can be harmful to health - official

4 Nov 2008

In a damning report on the state of medical weighing equipment and procedures in hospitals across the country, LACORS, the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services, has highlighted the dangers of using weighing equipment that can display units other than the standard metric units which are used for calculating medication and radiotherapy dosages, diagnosing illnesses and monitoring treatment.

The report states:

"One of the most potentially harmful issues is that of switchable scales - those that can display metric, imperial and other units. The risk is that medication could be administered based on a readout that was assumed to be metric."

In the first official recognition for many years of the serious issues that arise from a muddled approach to units of measurement, the report includes the following recommendation to hospital trusts:

"From now on, scales purchased for medical purposes should only be capable of metric display. There should be no capacity for switching or dual readouts. Trusts should be aware of the pitfalls of using switchable scales and may wish to consider replacing them, or having the switches removed. Conversion charts can be provided for those patients who wish to know their weight in imperial."

The report concludes that, should their recommendations be followed, hospitals will benefit from significant improvements in patient care, and the potential to demonstrate due diligence in relevant clinical negligence claims.

See the LACORS press release and the actual report.

Mystery shopper exposes imperial media stunt

London 22 October 2008

UKMA has received evidence that the recent media hullabaloo about the prosecution of a market trader in Hackney was a deliberate setup, designed to reawaken interest in the flagging campaign to preserve obsolete imperial measures.

See press release ...

Imaginative media spin to a non-event?

London 19 October 2008

Supporters of consumer protection have been alarmed at reports suggesting that the Government is to tell local councils not to enforce aspects of weights and measures law. Can this really be true?

See press release ...

Hackney Council gets it right

London 10 October 2008

Local Councils get a lot of stick, often undeserved, so when they do something right, we should congratulate them. So hats off to the London Borough of Hackney for striking a blow for genuine consumer protection - that is, for upholding that most basic consumer right - a fair and transparent system of weights and measures that enables consumers to compare quantities and prices on a “like for like” basis.

See press release ...