Shattering Cookware Incidents on the Rise

Christmas Day brunch spent with family around the dining room table should be an enjoyable memory, not a frightening one.  Unfortunately for one Michigan grandmother, one Christmas Day brunch did become frightening when her glass Pyrex casserole pan exploded without warning on her holiday table.  Fortunately for the woman, no one at her family table was injured in the incident, even though broken glass shards were found three feet from the table under the Christmas tree.

Recently other reports of shattering glass cookware have been reported.  One Houston man, according to medical records needed stitches to close a gash he received on his right arm when a large Pyrex measuring cup broke when boiling water was poured into it for tea.

Although these incidents are rare, according to NBC News, the incidents of glassware abruptly shattering has risen sharply in recent years.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, reports of shattering glassware rose from two in 1999 to 144 in 2011.  As of November of this year, 93 incidents have been reported.  Consumer Affairs.com reports that the two top makers of glass cooking ware in this country, Pyrex and Anchor Hocking, have had a combined 1,600 complaints of unexpected breakage since 1998. 

Although, when considered with the sheer volume of cookware the two companies manufacture each year – Pyrex produces more than 44 million dishes a year and Anchor Hocking produces more than 30 million a year – these incidents may seem insignificant, consumers expect these companies to manufacture safe products.

A recent study by two scientists at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, suggested that glassware produced today is more prone to shatter than the glassware your grandmother handed down to you.  More research is needed to determine the possible causes of the unexpected shattering of glass cookware.  However, if you have been injured by by either glass shards or spattering pan juices when your glass cookware unexpectedly shattered, contact an experienced personal injury attorney as soon as possible.  An assertive attorney will fight hard to protect you from insurance companies and fight hard to win a successful outcome through either equitable settlement or by verdict at trial.

Original story here.

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