Is the exploding Fitbit going to be the next Samsung Galaxy Note 7 scenario?
Although technology is growing at an unprecedented rate, the safety of such technological products remains questionable.
The first trend of such products exploding/catching on fire started with the Samsung Galaxy phones, then the iPhones (according to some disputed reports), and now the Fitbit.
The Fitbit is a wireless activity tracker and sleep wristband which measures data such as the number of steps walked, heart rate, quality of sleep, and other personal metrics to regulate an individual’s fitness and well-being.
From this story, there may be dangers of using them…
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Gloucester Crown Court issues £600,000 fine after employee was set on fire
The Health and Safety Executive have concluded their investigations into a horrific incident that saw a 61 year-old man set on fire whilst working on site.
Mr Steven Brown was working on installing a new set of traffic lights in Chester city centre by first moving a traffic light pole. He was using a pneumatic drill to break up the concrete when he hit an 11,000 volt cable. This gave him a huge electric shock and sparked a serious fire that engulfed the man in flames. Mr Brown suffered severe burns all over his hands, arms, legs, abdomen and face.
His injuries were so severe that he had to put in an induced coma for two weeks.
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Accident at work caused an employee skin loss and a fractured finger
Employers are legally responsible for employee safety and must do all they can to prevent employees from being injured in the workplace.
A seal and label producing company based in Kent was fined after a worker injured his hand in a printing press. Maidstone Crown Court heard that an employee of Fuji Seal Europe Ltd (FSE) was cleaning a blade on a printing press when his hand was drawn into the machine.
The employee suffered severe injuries; namely fractures and skin loss to fingers on his right hand which required a titanium fixture for his middle finger.
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District Council fined quarter of a million after employee suffers Hand Arm Vibration (HAV) Syndrome
Thanet District Council in Kent have been fined a quarter of a million pounds after an employee was diagnosed with Hard Arm Vibration (HAV) Syndrome.
The council was also found to have breached their Health and Safety obligations through various omissions, and the Health and Safety Executive made investigations into how Thanet District Council operated, and identified numerous concerns.
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Monster energy drink to be sued over teen death
Back in 2015, a teenager named Dustin Hood drank 3 and a half cans of Monster Energy drinks within 24 hours.
These supersized cans held 680ml each, meaning he drank in total over two litres of high caffeine fizzy drink. The total caffeine content is the same as drinking 14 regular cans of Coca Cola or 7 cups of coffee in 24 hours. For an adolescent teen like Hood, it’s not recommended to exceed more than 100 mg of caffeine a day yet he drank over 700mg in a day.
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Samsung blames faulty batteries for the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones to catch fire
Samsung has been engaged in fierce competition with Apple to be the top mobile phone provider in the world. Consumers have witnessed the two brands constantly spewing out countless smartphones, each one being faster, smarter, clearer, more vivid etc than the last.
Samsung finally made it to the top of the headlines and gained worldwide attention… when reports came in that their phones were setting themselves on fire.
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The U.K. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has fined the University of Northumbria for an experiment that quickly went south, putting the lives of two students in danger.
As part of a laboratory experiment, students at the University of Northumbria in Newcastle learned about the effects of caffeine and what effect it would have during sports. The experiment included a practical exercise whereby volunteer students would guinea pig test the impact of caffeine intake.
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Residential care home fined after resident choked to death
A residential care home provider has been fined after one of their elderly residents choked to death on uncut meatballs; even though the care providers were explicitly instructed to cut up the food first.
Resident Mrs Margaret Humphries was brought to the care home by her family along with written instructions that all food given to Mrs Humphries was to be cut up first. The family made sure to verbally instruct care providers to make sure they were aware that Mrs Humphries had a high risk of choking.
Tragically, the instructions were not acted on.
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Cristal Pigment UK Limited (formerly known as Millennium Inorganic Chemicals) in Stallingborough, North East of Lincolnshire, was found guilty for breaching their legal duties when one of their workers died after being exposed to a toxic chemical cloud. Another worker suffered permanent lung damage from the exposure as well.
Cristal Pigment is part of a global company that makes titanium dioxide as an inexpensive white pigment. However, the European Chemicals Agency has recently hinted that it will be classing the chemical as a respiratory carcinogen as it is suspected to cause cancer. This was just a small clue as to how dangerous the chemical can be.
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Amtek fined after employee injured hand on drilling machine
Amtek Aluminium Castings (Whitham) Limited was given a fine for health and safety failings after an employee injured his hand using a rotary drilling machine at work. Mr Andrew Gibson was drilling a hole in a cast when his glove got caught in the spinning motor and his hand was pulled into the drill, according to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reports.
The drill had ripped apart the glove and injured Mr Gibson’s hand before he managed to hit the emergency stop button. An ambulance crew attended to his injury before he was taken to hospital for further treatment, where he required skin grafts for his hand.
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