THE death of Summer Steer may have saved the lives of hundreds of Australian children.

Warnings on battery packaging will be improved, child-resistant packaging will be introduced, and children will find it difficult to take batteries out of devices.

Four-year-old Summer, of Tewantin, died after swallowing a lithium battery the size of a button.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission met with battery manufacturers, retailers and importers last Friday to discuss ways to make the products safer for children.

They agreed to:

Immediately strengthen consumer education activities, including support for The Battery Controlled campaign (an existing ACCC and Kidsafe industry initiative)

Improve the warnings on the packaging for lithium coin cell batteries supplied to consumers

Introduce child-resistant packaging as quickly as practicable

Work with suppliers of devices that use these batteries to improve warnings and designs to prevent children from taking batteries from the device, and

Continue efforts to develop safer battery designs