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In its over 30 years, the ARNOLD LAW FIRM has been dedicated to the aggressive representation of persons
injured through the actions of others, insuring that
victims of catastrophic injuries are fully and fairly compensated for their
injuries and losses. The ARNOLD LAW FIRM prides itself in providing
to each client the individual attention needed to prevail and to maximize
compensation for their injuries.
SEALED GLASS FRONT GAS FIREPLACE HAZARD
Eighteen months ago, DW walked
into our office with a frightening tale. On December 22, 2006, she was wrapping
Christmas presents in front of the gas fireplace in her rented home accompanied
by her daughter, M, then two days shy of her first birthday. M, who had just
started walking, lost her balance and fell hands first onto the glass front of
the fireplace. By the time her mother pushed her off the glass a second later, M
had suffered severe and disfiguring second- and third-degree burns to the palms
of her hands, forearms and face.
M was taken by ambulance to the University of California, Davis, Medical Center.
M’s mother was told by physicians that M was the 11th gas fireplace burn case
that month to be seen by the UCDMC emergency room. M was transferred to the
Sacramento Shriner’s Childrens’ Hospital, where she has undergone extensive
treatment for her burns, including skin grafts to her palms.
The fireplace which caused M’s burns is a Superior gas fireplace manufactured by
Lennox Hearth Products, Inc., a California corporation with its principal place
of business in Orange, California. Lennox Hearth Products, Inc.. is a subsidiary
of Lennox International Inc.
EXTREMELY DANGEROUS GLASS TEMPERATURE
The danger comes from sealed glass-front on these fireplaces. These are often
described as direct-vent fireplaces because they can be installed without a
traditional chimney. These gas burning fireplaces have emerged as a popular
alternative to conventional, open-hearth wood-burning fireplaces. They are
marketed as better for the environment, but hidden from homeowners is the
extreme danger that the glass surface presents, especially for very young
children.
Direct-vent sealed glass-front fireplaces are designed by the manufacturer to
reach temperatures of nearly 500 degrees Fahrenheit on the outside surface of
the glass. At that superheated temperature, less than a second's contact will
cause third-degree burns. In too many cases, that means the epidermis is lost,
with damage to the underlying tissue that requires skin grafts to repair. For
purposes of comparison, the hottest setting on a clothes iron is just 400
degrees.
Research by the Harvard Medical School and confirmed by subsequent study has
clearly established the relationship between time, surface temperature and burn
potential. At just 158 degrees, it takes less than one second of contact to
cause third-degree burns. Imagine the potential danger of a surface that is more
than 300 degrees hotter. That's not just hot. That's the temperature of the wall
inside your oven on full broil. And it's right there flush with the wall a few
inches above the floor in rooms where small children are expected to wander
about.
DELIBERATELY DESIGNED TO BE HAZARDOUS
The manufacturer of the sealed glass-front fireplaces deliberately designed this
"appliance" to reach 475 degree surface temperatures during normal operations.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI) safety standards that the
manufacturer of these sealed glass-front fireplaces helped write say the exposed
surfaces of the fireplace -- EXCLUDING the glass -- can only reach
117 degrees. But the glass front, by far the largest surface area of this
appliance, is exempted from any temperature requirements as long as the glass
surface doesn't exceed 500 degrees. When the president of the laboratory that
tests and certifies all of these fireplaces was asked about what the ANSI
standards committee had done to mitigate the ability of the glass surface to
burn flesh, he replied, "This has been a topic of many [90%] ANSI meetings. No
one's come up with a good way to do that."
Other standards for household appliances are more concerned about the safety of
children. The ASTM Standard Guide for Heated System Surface Conditions that
Produce Contact Burn Injuries (C1055-03), established in 1986, states that "at
no time ... are conditions that produce third degree burns recommended." The
Underwriters Laboratory (UL) standard for Household Electric Ranges sets a
maximum standard of 172 degrees.
The British Standard "Safety of Machinery - Temperatures of Touchable Surfaces"
makes an important distinction. The British standard for surface temperature, BS
EN 13202:2000, says an adult should be able to touch the surface for at least 4
seconds without injury. But if children might come in contact with the surface,
then the standard significantly lowers the allowable temperature. "Until
24 months children do not have reflexes which are quick enough to remove their
hands from what burns them," according to the British standards. "They do not
have the ability to get away from hot surfaces therefore." The safe
contact period for children is set up to 15 seconds for very young children.
A manufacturer is obligated to apply all relevant information to develop a
reasonably safe consumer product, but this manufacturer has instead recklessly
continued to manufacture and install these direct-vent sealed glass fireplaces
where they cause severe second- and third-degree burns to children. And simply
warning that the glass gets hot, is not enough. The fire behind the glass poses
an attractive nuisance to children who are not only too young to read a printed
warning but who lack the coordination and reflexes to prevent accidental
contact. Parents cannot protect their children from all hazards in the modern
home. Effective passive guarding is the only solution to these hazardous
fireplaces.
"Warnings and instructions should never have been relied upon to overcome poor
product design, inconsistency with consumer motivations and behaviors and
hazards that are difficult to perceive, appreciate or control. Therein lies the
fatal flaw with this product," says Carol Pollack-Nelson, a human factors
psychologist and former U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission researcher.
The defect in these fireplaces relates to the following features, which are
common to many brands of glass front gas fireplaces including Superior, Lennox,
Majestic, Empire, Heatilator, Heat-N-Glo:
MORE AND MORE CHILDREN ARE BEING INJURED
In 2004, the Journal of Burn Care and Research published a study that documented
a 15-fold increase in the incidence of pediatric palm burns caused by touching
the sealed glass on the front of gas fireplaces.
"Pediatric burns resulting from palmar contact with the glass enclosures of gas
fireplaces have emerged as an avoidable new danger within the home," the doctors
wrote. "Although most of these injuries heal with conservative treatment alone,
many require surgery or other intensive management to regain acceptable
function."
In 2004, when the study was published, more than 70 percent of fireplaces
installed burned natural gas. The increasing popularity of gas fireplaces, the
study found, had led to increase in the incidence of pediatric burns,
specifically toddlers, from contact with the superheated glass enclosing these
units.
"The aim of this report is to alert readers to the potential danger of burn
injury in the pediatric population associated with contact of the glass
enclosures of gas fireplaces," the doctors wrote. "We hope that focusing on this
emerging problem will help generate much-needed improvements in gas fireplace
burn prevention."
That was six years ago. Today, parents of small children are still discovering
with painful consequences the danger built into their homes.
AN ENORMOUS PERSONAL AND SOCIAL COST
Experience in U.S. Burn Centers over the last decade bears compelling witness to
the severity of the problem caused by sealed glass-front gas fireplaces. Since
these direct vent fireplaces began being installed in homes, doctors and
hospitals have witnessed an increase in the incidence of serious burns to
children's hands. The Federal Consumer Protection Safety Commission estimates
that between 1999 and early 2009, more than 2,000 children between the ages of
less than a year to 5 years old were injured badly enough to require medical
attention after falling into, backing into or otherwise touching a sealed
glass-front gas fireplace.
Treatment of severe second, third, and fourth degree burns requires immediate
hospitalization in a burn center. For less severe second degree burns,
conservative treatment includes inpatient/outpatient hospitalization, outpatient
wound care management, application of topical antibiotic ointments to the burned
areas, application of non-adherent dressings to the wound, occupational therapy,
narcotic pain medication and extension splitting. Severe third degree burns
require hospitalization and surgery. Severe third degree burns may require split
thickness and/or full thickness skin grafts and pancake splitting for deep
second and third degree burns.
It is estimated that 10-20% of patients suffering contact burns from glass front
gas fireplaces require surgical intervention. After surgery, occupational
therapy is necessary for rehabilitation. Permanent scarring, wound contracture,
skin grafting surgery, contracture release surgery, and loss of hand function
due to scarring and contracture is common. Additionally, intense pain and
emotional trauma is expected as a result of a severe burn, like those caused by
gas fireplaces.
Costs associated with these types of burns may range from $100,000 to $150,000
with the most severe cases resulting in treatment costs of up to $300,000. But
the personal cost of these injuries is best told by those who have experienced a
parent's worst nightmare.
A HAZARD TO CHILDREN EVEN AFTER TURNED OFF
More than 500,000 of these sealed single-pane glass-front fireplaces have been
installed in the homes of unsuspecting families since 2004. By design, they are
installed flush with the wall, inches above the floor, in rooms that are readily
accessible to infants and small children. The hazardous fireplace has the fit
and appearance of an appliance such as an oven or microwave, but has none of the
protections built into those appliances.
Even after the gas fire is extinguished, the glass on the front of the fireplace
remains a hazard for a lengthy period afterward. And with the fire out, there's
no warning of the danger inherent in the design of these sealed glass fire
boxes.
Experiments have shown that it takes 6.5 minutes for the surface temperature of
the glass to fall from its normal operating high temperature of almost 500
degrees down to a still extremely hazardous 392 degrees. It takes an average of
12.3 minutes before the surface reached 212 degrees, which is still well above
the 158 degree surface temperatures that cause third-degree burns from less than
one second's contact. In one test, it required 27..5 minutes before the surface
glass cooled to 122 degrees.
A MATTER OF FRAUD
Sealed-glass fireplaces are far more dangerous than traditional fireplaces that
are open or can be opened to the room. This is because of the defects in design
that combine to make the sealed glass a violently hot collection plate for the
enormous heat trapped in the sealed firebox. Remove the glass and the
temperature of the same gas-fueled fireplace would reach just 148 degrees at the
point where the glass had reached nearly 500 degrees. At 148 degrees, a person
could hold his hand there for more than 40 seconds without harm.
People are not warned of the danger presented by the superheated glass surfaces
before they purchase these appliances. Only after the fireplace is installed
does the homeowner learn of the inherent danger of a sealed glass-front
fireplace. And even that warning fails to point out that the surface of the
glass reaches nearly 500 degrees and will cause severe burns on
contact. The increase in the number of burns suffered by children who touched
the glass on sealed fireplaces is testimony to the manufacturer's failure.
But even if the manufacturer did spell out the degree of the extreme danger
these fireplaces create, written "warnings" won't protect a toddler from
brushing against or, worse, stumbling onto the superheated glass surface. No
amount of parental supervision will make unguarded 500-degree glass safe.
Parents would not have purchased these appliances had they been told clearly and
frankly of the dangers they present under standard operation. Objective,
reasonable consumers would shy away from installing such manifestly dangerous
appliances if the manufacturer alerted customers to the fact that the glass face
reaches 500 degrees under normal operation and explained that even a moment's
contact will destroy human skin. That failure by the manufacturer to be honest
with consumers is the fraud that has burned so many innocent children and
unjustly enriched the maker of these hazardous fireplaces.
In its defense, the manufacturer gathered a bunch of declarations in which
members of a retirement community said they know fireplaces are "hot," as if
that were the end of the analysis. The question, of course, is not whether a few
retirees will say that fireplaces are "hot" but whether the reasonable consumer
knows that the surface of these unguarded glass fronts reach 500 degrees and
pose a severe risk to children. When one considers the hundreds of thousands of
households put at risk, many of which include small children, what two dozen
cherry-picked residents of a childless retirement community say about fireplaces
is in no way the measure of whether a reasonable consumer knows the extreme
danger that the super-heated glass presents. These fireplaces are not just hot.
They are treacherously hot.
The question of the manufacturer's failure to disclose in advance that the
unguarded glass fronts reach 500 degrees and can cause third degree burns on
contact won't be judged by the opinions of a few carefully selected retirees but
by the effect on a reasonable consumer. On that ground, the case is clear. A
reasonable person would understand this omission for what it is. But for the
manufacturer's failure to clearly warn of the dangers, the homeowners would not
have been hurt and many, many children would have been spared the trauma of
severe burns and the extended treatment those burns often require.
THE ARNOLD LAW FIRM'S COMMITMENT
Thankfully, D and M’s personal
injury case has resolved by a settlement negotiated by our firm. Unfortunately
we continue to represent other families who have suffered through this horrific
experience. In addition, and as part of our obligation to work in the prevention
of further injuries, the Arnold Law Firm is lead counsel in a national class
action that seeks the removal of the unreasonable hazard posed by these
dangerous fireplaces from family rooms throughout the United States.
If you or someone you know has suffered a burn from one of these sealed glass
front gas fireplaces, the injured party may have a claim against the
manufacturer. Our firm is leading national efforts to deal with this
unreasonable danger, and is representing injured children throughout the United
States on these product defect claims. Given our vast experience and knowledge,
we are uniquely poised to represent those who have suffered burns by the hot
glass fronts of these dangerous gas fireplaces.
For more information, contact:
Kirk Wolden (kirk@justice4you.com)
or
Clifford Carter (cliff@justice4you.com)
or
call 1-916-924-3100.
For more than 30 years, the ARNOLD LAW FIRM has been dedicated to the aggressive
representation of persons injured through the actions of others, insuring that
victims of catastrophic injuries are fully and fairly compensated for their
injuries and losses. The
ARNOLD LAW FIRM prides itself in providing to each client the
individual attention needed to prevail and to maximize compensation for their
injuries.
Contact Information
- Telephone
-
916/924-3100
- FAX
- 916/924-1829
- Postal address
-
865 Howe Avenue, Suite 300, Sacramento, CA 95825
- Electronic mail
- General Information:
sue@justice4you.com
Webmaster:
joy@justice4you.com
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