Mechanical and Safety Engineering (MASE) Product Failure Injury Report
Product involved: Ottoman
What happened: A woman sitting on an ottoman fell and received injuries when the ottoman she was seated on collapsed due to a catastrophic failure of the connection of one of the legs.
Injuries: Unknown
Recommendations: It is unknown at this time whether the failure was due to a design defect or a manufacturing/material defect. Engineering calculations or finite element analysis (FEA) should have been used to ensure that the ottoman is adequately designed by the manufacturer. Using engineering design principles as well as industry standards, with an adequate factor of safety to accommodate dynamic loading that occurs when a person drops down into the seat/ottoman; the ottoman could have been designed to safely support its occupants. Adequate quality control procedures would likely have caught any material or manufacturing defect.
OSHA/Standard violations?: No
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