Handle Failure Cases
Posted by John Sedgewick - 28/03/11 at 09:03 amInjuries arising out of the failure of a handle or the fasteners used to secure it are surprisingly common.
In one case, a person suffered a head injury due to a defective handle design on a garden cart. The cart was purchased in pieces with assembly instructions. The handle (a bracked-shaped part when viewed from above: [ ) was made of tubular steel and designed to slide into brackets, one bolted to each side of the cart. The design anticipated that the user would grip the long side of the handle (the vertical portion illustrated above) and push the cart in front of him or her. As long as the user pushed the cart, the tubular steel handle pressed harder into the brackets. However, the designer did not provide bolts, screws or other fasteners to restrain the handle in the brackets, so when the user pulled backwards on the handle with a heavy load in the cart, the handle pulled out of the brackets and came free in the client’s hand. The client fell and suffered a serious injury because the defect in the design. It was entirely foreseeable that a user would pull backwards on the cart, and that someone might lose balance and get hurt. The need to fasten the handle would have been obvious to either a thoughtful designer or any safety engineer who reviewed the design, and manufacturers have a duty to eliminate obvious and unnecessary hazards from their products.
Another of my handle failure cases involved the pull strap on an overhead door on the back of a delivery truck. The back doors of such trucks are generally made in hinged panels mounted on rollers so they can roll up on tracks, one mounted on each side of the door opening at the back of the truck. There is usually a spring provided with such doors to assist in the task of opening them because they are too heavy for a person to lift alone. Even with a spring assist for lifting, roll up truck doors are heavy. To keep the weight down, manufacturers commonly make them by sandwiching a lightweight core between a rigid matierial such as plywood on the inside and a light weight weatherproof aluminum on the outside. The sandwich is held together with rivets which sometimes pop apart. Rivet failure in the door sandwich is not such a bad problem becuase there are many rivets, the rollers on each outside edge of the doors are bolted on, and the loosening of the sandwich is not likely to cause injury. The problem arises when the same rivets are used to fasten the handle (usually a metal plate and a nylon strap) used for pulling the door up and down. When an unsuspecting worker standing on the narrow rear shelf of the truck pulls on the strap to raise or lower the door, his or her balance depends on the strap staying in place. When the strap comes loose, the worker is highly likely to fall off the truck. Serious injuries occur when people fall from three or four feet onto cement or paved parking lots.
Another sort of handle failure case is reflected in a recent product recall. See the article at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10157.html. The Consumer Products Safety Commission and the manufacturer have recalled a machete due to the risk that the handle grip is inadequate and unsafe. While using this particular machete, it is possible for one’s hand to slip off the handle forward onto the blade. Since the blades are razor sharp, this can result in severe laceration. A properly designed handle would provide a “stop” to prevent the hand from sliding forward, or at least to deflect the hand and fingers away from the blade should a slipping accident occur.
These are just three examples of ways that poor handle design can cause injuries. There are many more circumstances in which severe and catastrophic injuries can result from handle failure or poor design.
If you or someone you know falls, suffers a severe cut or is otherwise hurt due to a poorly designed or defectively fastened handle, you should immediately preserve any and all available evidence. The handle itself and all related hardware, especially failed rivets, nuts or bolts, warnings and instructions, and photographs of such evidence as the truck door described above (which showed a pattern of rivet failure) are very important. Making the evidence available to an engineer, or at least a lawyer with experience in such cases, can mean the difference between success and failure in the case. Without specific evidence demonstrating the conditions under which the handle failed and why it should not have failed, it may be impossible to prove the case.
You are always welcome to consult with Berman and Simmons free of charge on any personal injury case. If we decide that we can help, and if you choose to hire us, we will handle the case on a contingent fee basis, which means that we will not be paid unless we win. When we settle the case or win at trial, our fee will be a percentage of the recovery.
