Background

An individual was severely injured when lifting a glass vase. The individual in question broke the vase with the thumb going through the way of the vase and being lacerated in to the tendons.

Methodology & Results

There are no standards that relate to the wall thickness or strength of glass that can be sold or used. The vase was examined in detail using microscopic techniques that can follow the direction of propagation of a fracture through a glass item.

By piecing the item back together it was possible to identify the point of origin of the failure and also the orientation of the forces applied to the item during the handling that led to failure. It was possible to ascertain that the forces identified matched the witnesses explanation of the incident down to which hand was used. The glass at the point of failure was found to be less than 0.5 mm in thickness.

Conclusion

The claim was settled and the item removed from sale.

Other personal injury cases have involved teapots with their bases falling out, cups cracking when boiling water was added and plates shattering. The majority of these incidents examined have related to manufacturing problems.