NDLI: A Fatal Accident Involving a Glass-Topped Cocktail Table

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Johnson, Alan A. Storey, Randall J.
Copyright Year	2014
Abstract	A 25-year-old male fell backward onto a glass-topped cocktail table causing the untempered glass to break into shards, one of which entered his back causing a fatal injury. To investigate the accident, two exemplar tables were purchased. One of these, like the accident table, had an untempered glass tabletop, while the other had a tabletop which was tempered. The tabletop on each table rested on the table’s iron frame supported by iron tabs at each corner and at the mid-point of each edge. Impact tests were carried out by dropping bags of sand onto the center of a table being tested from a height corresponding to the center of gravity of the accident victim when standing. These tests showed that a 4.54-kg (10-lb) sandbag was sufficient to shatter an untempered tabletop. An 18.14-kg (40-lb) sandbag dropped on a tempered tabletop deformed the frame and mid-point tabs forcing the glass through the frame to the ground without breaking it. It was concluded that the use of untempered glass and other design flaws caused this cocktail table to be an unreasonably dangerous product. The litigation relating to this accident was settled out of court.
Starting Page	267
Ending Page	271
Page Count	5
File Format	PDF
ISSN	15477029
Journal	Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention
Volume Number	14
Issue Number	3
e-ISSN	18641245
Language	English
Publisher	Springer US
Publisher Date	2014-05-09
Publisher Place	Boston
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Cocktail table Coffee table Glass top Fracture Drop test Tribology, Corrosion and Coatings Characterization and Evaluation of Materials Mechanics Structural Mechanics Quality Control, Reliability, Safety and Risk
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Mechanics of Materials Materials Science Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality Mechanical Engineering

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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