Press release 2011.07.21 [Preventing Accidents Involving Portable Gas Cartridge Stoves]

Preventing Accidents Involving Portable Gas Cartridge Stoves

National Institute of Technology and Evaluation
Product Safety Technology Center
July 21, 2011

NITE (National Institute of Technology and Evaluation; President: Itaru Yasui) gave a presentation for the media on preventing accidents involving induction cooking stoves as shown in the attached materials

1. Press release

Release date:

July 21, 2011

Title:

Preventing Accidents Involving Portable Gas Cartridge Stoves

Publisher:

Product Safety Technology Center

Summary:

Product accidents reported to the Product Safety Technology Center at NITE include 175 cases*1 involving portable gas cartridge stoves in the six years from fiscal 2005 to fiscal 2010. Classifying these cases by damage, they include five cases with casualties, 10 cases with severe injuries and 51 cases with minor injuries. There were 58 accidents involving explosions or burst canisters. Fifty cases involved a room or wider area catching fire*2, including 25 cases in which the building was completely destroyed.
Analysis of accidents occurring in the five years from fiscal 2005 to fiscal 2009 involving portable gas cartridge stoves (135 cases), excluding cases caused only by problems with the design, manufacture or indication (Cause Category A) and cases under investigation (Cause Category H) have revealed that the following conditions frequently lead to accidents.

[1]

Overheating from a nearby heat source (electric cooking heaters, gas cooking stoves, IH cooking heaters, etc.)

[2]

Stove left on

[3]

Improperly inserted gas cartridges

[4]

Contact with a flammable substance (clothes, newspapers, etc.) during use

[5]

Gas collecting inside the stove and catching fire

[6]

Incorrectly set pan stay*3

Since the technical criteria on the safety of portable gas cartridge stoves were revised twice (1976 and 1996)*4 to prevent accidents, incorporating a safety device with a pressure sensor or similar safety device, portable gas cartridge stoves conforming to the new technical criteria have virtually no accidents. However, a significant number of accidents occur due to improper use, and sometimes the extent of human injury per accident is large. In addition, accidents tend to increase from September onwards. Accordingly, NITE has decided to promote consumer awareness on this issue to prevent accidents involving portable gas cartridge stoves.

*1

Number of accidents excluding overlapping cases or non-applicable cases at June 30, 2011

*2

Fire in part of a building, such as a pillar or a floor

*3

One of the components of a portable gas cartridge stoves; a metallic stand on which to place a kettle or pan

*4

[1] If the pressure inside the gas cartridge exceeds a specific level, the gas supply should stop (added in 1976 to the technical criteria in the Act on Securing Safety and the Optimization of Transaction of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (hereinafter, the “Liquefied Petroleum Gas Act”). [2] Portable gas cartridge stoves must have a structure that makes it impossible to light or place a pan on the stove if the pan stay is not positioned properly on the stove (added in 1996 to the technical criteria in the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Act).

Press briefing paper in Japanese

• http://www.nite.go.jp/jiko/press/prs110623set.pdf [PDF:86KB]
• http://www.nite.go.jp/jiko/press/prs110623.pdf [PDF:528KB]
• http://www.nite.go.jp/jiko/e/poster/poster.html#aircon