Education
Educating consumers on their rights and traders on their responsibilities are important elements of the work of the Office.
We achieve these in a variety of ways including one-to-one advice, the production of leaflets, media information, websites and talks and events.
A schedule of the Guidance and Advice Leaflets can be found by clicking here and Press Releases are included in our news section.
Talks
Staff of the Office regularly attend meeting of groups and associations on the Island to inform members of our work. If you are interested in someone attending one of your groups meetings please email us or call Margaret Crellin on (01624) 686512.
Visits
The Office welcomes groups wishing to visit the Office and find out more about it’s work. If you are interested in arranging a group visit please email us or call Margaret Crellin on (01624) 686512.
Events
We are regular participants in major events on the Island.
Agricultural Shows
We are regular exhibitors in the Island’s Agricultural Shows. At the shows we cover issues which we believe are relevant to consumers whether these are new initiatives introduced by the Office or elements of our service which we wish to bring to the attention of consumers.
Local Shows
We are delighted to have been invited to a number of smaller shows around the Island over the past few years. These give us the opportunity to meet consumers without them having to travel into Douglas and allow us to discuss with them issues or problems that they have as well as advising them on the services we provide.
Electric blanket testing
The Office has provided this service free of charge over a number of years. Over a period of two years in excess of 50% of the blankets were condemned as unsafe and as importantly a further 20% were found to have dangerous faults which the engineer was able to repair on the day at no cost to the owners. Most of the condemned blankets were left and the testers pass them on to the MSPCA to be used as pet bedding.
Over 5000 house fires a year in the UK are caused by old or damaged electric blankets and each year 10 people are killed and 100 injured in such fires.
The testing normally takes place in September or October and is widely advertised in the local media.
In addition to these major events we also run a number of promotions on new or topical areas of work. These cover a range of issues such as the introduction of new services as well as recurring topics such as fireworks safety.
Talks to Schools/Isle of Man College
The staff of the Office regularly visit schools on the Island to promote issues such as consumer advice and money management skills. The Isle of Man College has been particularly pro-active in the area of money management skills for its students which we have been pleased to support.
Occasionally we visit primary schools to talk to the children on weighing and measuring or other curriculum related topics. Staff are delighted to do this and much of the lesson is "hands on" and very often messy but fun!
Please visit our Resources for Teachers page to find out more about the support we can offer schools.
Our Young Consumers website is aimed specifically at young people from age 12-25 and now contains interactive pages to help develop money management skills.
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