Child injury leads to new product

A six-year journey to develop a child safety product to prevent household burns has culminated in an award win for Mukinbudin-based inventors Graeme and Sharynn McCormack at this year’s Consumer Protection Awards.

First inspired to develop the product after their young son severely burnt his arm on an urn in their kitchen, the McCormacks came up with the concept of the oven guard to prevent a similar incident happening with their two other young children.

Looking around the kitchen to identify any other potential hazards, Mr McCormack identified the oven was the hottest thing down at a small child’s level, and sought to install a protective covering over it.

Unable to find a product on the market, the McCormacks put their heads together to come up with a product that could shield the hot oven surface from toddlers’ hands.

“We searched high and low for something to cover it, but there was nothing out on the market,” Mrs McCormack said.

The McCormacks experimented with different fire retardant fabrics and designs, as well as different methods of attaching the cover to the oven.

A couple of years later, the couple applied for patents and design protection and launched the product on to the market.

Independent testing showed the oven guard reduced the surface temperature of the oven by about 50 per cent, to a minimum temperature of roughly 42 degrees.

One of the key relationships the McCormacks developed was with Kidsafe WA.

The agency insisted the product should be professionally tested and meet certain criteria.

As a result, the oven guard underwent strict testing by The Research Company in Perth at one of the Kidsafe WA houses.

Following the testing, Kidsafe began to stock the oven guard, promoting the product through its website and brochures and adding it to its list of recommended safety products for the home.

Mrs McCormack said that between its retail outlets and online shop, most sales come through the Kidsafe houses, which are attached to a number of hospitals and educate parents on how to child-proof their homes.

Retailing at $100 a piece, about 1,000 Lee-Beau Oven Guards have been sold to date.

The McCormacks now also produce other heat-resistant products on an ad hoc basis, such as urn covers and oven gloves.

But to grow the business, according to Mrs McCormack, the couple needs an injection of funds to pay for marketing and business development.

The entire process, from inception through to applying for design registration and patents, has been entirely self-funded by the couple.

Attempts at state government funding have so far been unsuccessful.

“Our biggest hold up is that we don’t have the funding to grow the business…This is a product that’s not out there on the market enough and it needs to be,” she said.

Mrs McCormack said that in retrospect, the couple would not have tried to do it all on their own in the initial stages.

She also advises budding inventors to get good advice, and from more than one source.

Mrs McCormack believes the marketing of the oven guard was delayed considerably because of some bad advice they received in terms of business development.

“Make sure the advice you’re getting will take you to where you want to go,” she said.