KEBS cracks down on substandard steel to protect construction safety

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) has stopped a Chinese steel company from selling in Kenya after finding poor-quality products. Inspections showed the steel was not safe for construction. As more people want strong, safe building materials, regulators are using traceability systems to check product quality, make sure rules are followed and keep consumers safe from bad products.

Advanced traceability systems helped find the steel company’s mistakes. By using barcodes, serial numbers and digital records, KEBS tracked how the steel was made, brought in and sold. This helped them find the poor-quality products and trace them back to the source. Because of this, bad steel was stopped before it spread in the market, helping keep construction sites safe.

Traceability has helped KEBS take action faster by giving clear proof of rule breaking. Digital records of test results, supply chain steps and certifications made it easier to act quickly and stay open with the public. Also, using automated systems has made quality checks faster and better, cutting down the need for slow and sometimes missed manual checks.

As Kenya works to make its rules stronger, traceability systems will stay important in stopping poor-quality products. These systems help make sure companies are responsible, improve how the market is watched and make it easier to enforce rules. This protects consumers and also helps fair competition in the manufacturing industry.