What is the difference between an OPSS product recall, safety report and safety alert?

What are the three official OPSS alert types?

The GOV.UK Product Recalls and Alerts page, last updated 25 August 2026, defines the three types added to the public list. The wording below follows that page. It is not a ranking of products.

How is a product safety report different from a recall?

Both name specific products. The split is the measure, not the seriousness of the headline. A recall from end users asks owners to stop using the item and use the maker's or retailer's return route. A report records a different corrective step that an authority ordered or a business is already taking.

On the public list, the same week can show 'Recall of the product from end users' next to 'Modification programme', 'Import rejected at border' or 'Removal of the listing by the online marketplace'. The Bababing UNA Highchair notice (2604-0210, 1 May 2026) is a product safety report: a repair kit under a modification programme, and not every chair in batch BQ00249 is affected.

Filtering the database for the word “recall” hides reports. Open the notice and read 'Alert type' plus 'Measure type'.

When does a category alert apply even if my brand is unnamed?

When the notice is a product safety alert. GOV.UK says alerts highlight a category or sector. They ask businesses, authorities and sometimes consumers to take immediate steps. They do not need a barcode column.

The November 2022 Urgent Safety Alert for baby self-feeding pillows is written against the product type. OPSS said that category cannot comply with the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 and asked consumers to stop using the products and dispose of them. Which? and RoSPA cover the same official alert; they do not replace it.

A later example is the December 2025 Product Safety Alert for Baby Sleep Pillows (PSA8). It names a product type, not a shop SKU. Searching your brand and seeing nothing does not take you outside that alert if the item is a baby sleep pillow as defined there.

Why do “recall” searches miss reports and alerts?

The list page titles many rows 'Product Safety Report' or 'Product Safety Alert'. A keyword box search for “recall” will not surface those rows. The 2022 launch note says you can filter by type of alert as well as category, risk level, measure type and date.

1. Search the brand and the product type (for example “sleep pillow”, “self-feeding”, “neck float”).
2. Set the alert-type filter to recall, report and alert, or run the search three times.
3. Open any category alert that names the kind of kit you own, even when the brand column is empty.

What should I read once I know the alert type?

The corrective-action line, then the identifiers. A recall match still needs a model or batch check. A report match still needs that check — a repair kit may apply only to some units in a batch. An alert match is a category match: if the definition fits, the requested consumer steps apply without a SKU tick.

NHS bottle-feeding advice, which OPSS cites on the self-feeding-pillow alert, is to hold the bottle yourself. The Lullaby Trust's sleeping-product pages sit alongside NHS safer-sleep advice for cot kit. Those pages are not a homemade ban list from MayTally.

Does an empty “recall” search mean nothing is on file?

No. It may mean you filtered out reports and alerts. It may also mean there is no recall on file for that brand string — which is still not an all-clear. Category alerts and other registers (food, medicines, vehicles) live elsewhere.

In shortQuote the three GOV.UK types. Recall and report name products; alert names a category. Search all three. A miss on “recall” is not a miss on the whole list, and no listing is not a clearance.