SAFETY ALERT-Suspect and Counterfeit Items
Excerpt from Safety Alert Number 03-17 published 04/06/2017
The USCG issued a Safety Alert regarding potential suspect and counterfeit items. Such items lack the quality and capabilities of authentic ones and can lead to marine casualties and unsafe conditions. Stakeholders should implement policies to ensure that items purchased are authentic.
Suspect / Counterfeit Items (S/CIs) are products represented as meeting specified manufacturing and quality requirements when, in fact, they do not. S/CIs have been a known problem to industry and the government since the early 1980s. This concern initially focused on fasteners and over time has been expanded to include many items, both electrical and mechanical. The Coast Guard is routinely made aware of various types of counterfeit equipment and products in the marine industry. Oftentimes, such items are lifesaving products and fire-fighting equipment, which represent an extreme hazard. S/CIs can cause:
- marine casualties causing extensive damage to equipment, vessels and the environment;
- unsafe conditions that put people at risk of injury or death; and
- delays that impact vessel schedules and create additional operating costs.