http://www.towpathtalk.co.uk/news/boaters-injured-in-gas-canister-explosion 04 Oct 2011 Damages for client injured by exploding camping stove In a recent County Court trial, Janine Jones of Smith Llewelyn Partnership succeeded in recovering £6,000.00 on behalf of a client who was injured as a result of an exploding camping stove. Mrs T, from Monmouthshire, had been enjoying a camping trip with family and friends when the incident occurred. Her husband had been using a Bright Spark portable gas cooker to boil the kettle when the gas cartridge contained within the unit overheated and was blown out of its housing, buckling the stove. The gas cartridge was propelled through the air hitting Mrs T’s leg with force and causing her injuries. The claim was brought against the manufacturers and suppliers of the stove under the relevant legislation which provides consumers with remedies relating to defective products, and which provides that products should be of satisfactory quality and reasonably fit for the purpose for which they were purchased. Whilst the claim was vigorously defended on the basis that the manufacturers/suppliers alleged that Mrs T’s husband misused the stove and the issue had to be resolved at trial, Mrs T was guided by Janine and expert evidence was obtained as to the most likely cause of the explosion. In finding in favour of Mrs T, the Trial Judge accepted that her husband had not misused the stove and that the explosion was caused by the failure of the safety device, a defect within the stove.
Looks impressive but I would just read through them. As far as I can see other than the safety notice issued for the boating community not sure most of the articles specifically blame the Bistro style stove. If you read the articles the incidents could have been caused by operator error..? Some of the reports just say portable gas stove...which could be anything
Any gas appliance can be dangerous. Putting this in perspective if the worldwide sales of this item is 100,000 units then the reported incidents are low. I'm pretty confident that traffic accidents are responsible for higher death rates around the world and far more dangerous.