Consumer Responsibility

At Beko, we do all we can to ensure we meet that expectation.

• We meet and exceed all the relevant UK and EU safety Standards
• We work with some of the biggest independent accredited test laboratories in the World who test every model we make to ensure it meets safety regulations
• Those independent laboratories also audit our factory test laboratories to make sure their testing and processes are thorough and robust.
• In addition to independent testing, we do our own testing to ensure that everything we produce meets the same high standards for Quality and Safety.
• We test inbound components for safety, flammability and durability. This includes testing under extreme conditions and life testing.
• We take samples from every single production run and check them for safety, quality and consistency.
• We test products under extreme conditions and for long periods to simulate lifetime usage by the most demanding of customers

Arçelik, the parent company of Beko PLC manufactured its first refrigeration product in 1960 and 30 years later, Beko PLC launched them on the UK market.

The refrigeration industry has changed significantly in the intervening 30 years. Products have become bigger and more feature rich. Products are more versatile and food can be kept fresh for longer. At the same time, energy regulations have driven electricity consumption down to a point where a modern fridge freezer uses around 1/5th of the energy used by early products of a similar size.

We’ve also realised the environmental impact of refrigeration. We’re now aware that some of the refrigerant gases we used aren’t ozone friendly and that some of the materials we used in the insulation and some plastics can be hazardous to the environment at the end of the products life. Most importantly, we’ve realised that we can no longer send old products to landfill when it is no longer required. Since 2005, all electrical products, including refrigeration have had to be separated from normal waste and sent to specialist treatment facilities. This ensures that precious materials can be reclaimed and the rest of the product can be disposed of in an environmentally responsible way that doesn’t harm the environment. Whilst for most of the products we make this is relatively straightforward, refrigeration brings specific challenges.

The other area that has come sharply into focus with refrigeration is the issue of safety. Many of the chemicals that we now know are hazardous to the environment were the same chemicals that were included to prevent/ limit fires. Refrigeration insulation is a particular issue as we now have to use pentane to make it. Although this makes very efficient insulation, it is also highly flammable.

Arçelik recognised this issue in 2006 and from that point on, all our products have been protected. At the same time, we upgraded our critical components to prevent fires being started by components on the product failing and overheating. We have continued to develop and strengthen these products and all our current products have a flame-retardant back that will resist external fire attacks and catastrophic component failure. Arçelik was the 1st major brand to do this on its entire refrigeration range and the achievement was recognised in 2018 when Electrical Safety First announced Beko plc as the winner of its safety Innovation award for that year.

We work with independent test houses, the government, accreditation bodies and other manu-facturers to ensure we continue to move the product safety agenda forward.

We also work with the government and other stakeholders on initiatives outside standards. This includes sharing best practise on product recalls, working on projects with government and oth-ers to improving product registration and on initiatives that help consumers protect themselves. We do this with a range of other stakeholders including Trading Standards, The Office for Prod-uct Safety and Standards, Electrical Safety First and a range of multi-discipline stakeholder groups.

Our work in the area of safety led to us being awarded the Electrical Safety First “Safety Innova-tion Award 2018” for the Flame-Retardant backs on our Refrigeration Range.