From the editor-in-chief Chris Fay Editor-in-chief chrisf@tsi.org.uk Lift-off for 2016 after hoverboard success Hello and welcome to the first TS Today of 2016. I hope this edition finds you suitably refreshed after the Christmas and New Year holidays, and ready to face the year ahead. We ended 2015 with a major success for the trading standards profession – and one that should not be underestimated. Counterfeit hoverboards are merely the latest in a growing list of cheap and dangerous electronic imports with dodgy plugs, but they could prove to be a game changer Amazon’s advice to its customers to bin their hoverboards and apply for a refund stops short of the product recall I would have hoped for. However, to achieve such significant behavioural change from arguably the world’s biggest retailer is huge, and something we can all be proud of. In many respects, the product is irrelevant; it’s the messages to consumers, manufacturers and retailers that are important and that remain the same – and, in this instance at least, it looks as if they are getting through. Let’s hope this will make Amazon, and the other online retailers and fulfilment houses, think twice about the products they list. In this edition of TS Today, we look back on how the issues with hoverboards came to light and Robert Chantry-Price – a CTSI lead officer for product safety – examines an Electrical Safety First investigation into unsafe goods. The findings of this charity – which aims to reduce deaths and injuries from electrical products – reinforce the notion that hoverboards are just the tip of a ‘dangerous product’ iceberg. Meanwhile, Donna Ward shares details of a Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards project aimed at stopping people from using illegal and harmful fat-burning drugs. On more familiar – but no less important – ground, Neil Chalmers, national coordinator at the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland, introduces Dixie the detection dog, whose skills are available to Scottish authorities. Thanks for reading, and happy new year.