News

Slough, UK, May 6 2016 – Rakesh Kapoor, CEO of RB plc met with Mr. Dukjong Kim, a victim of the Oxy Humidifier Sanitizer (HS) product that was sold exclusively in Korea until 2011. The meeting was at the invitation of RB and took place at the company’s headquarters in Slough, UK.

At the meeting, Mr. Kapoor made a sincere apology for the pain and suffering that Mr. Kim had experienced as a result of the Oxy HS product. He also repeated RB’s heartfelt apology to all the victims and families of those who had suffered, as well as to Korean society for damaging their trust in the company. Mr. Kapoor reiterated his sincere commitment to working very hard to make amends and to ensuring a full resolution by Oxy RB, so as to regain the confidence of Korean society.

During the meeting, Mr. Kapoor acknowledged the participation of Mr. Yeyong Choi of a leading civic group who has campaigned to raise awareness of the HS issue.

On May 5, Mr. Kapoor made a statement on the HS product issue as part of his speech to shareholders at RB’s Annual General Meeting.  “Whilst we have made some great strides, we have also made some mistakes. You may have read articles in the media about one of Oxy RB’s products in Korea which has caused deaths and also lung injuries to people. I profoundly regret this and deliver my apology to the victims of the Oxy HS product.” He went on to say that he was personally very sorry and very much regretted that Oxy RB’s product caused harm to people in Korea. 

RB has made improvements to its safety processes to ensure that something like this could never happen again. Consumer safety remains the company's number one priority.