Office Chair Explosion Accident

An office chair explosion accident mainly refers to the sudden explosion of a pneumatic lift swivel chair caused by component defects, often due to inferior pneumatic rods, and requires high attention to prevention.

Causes of Explosion

• Thin Wall of the Pneumatic Rod: To reduce costs, inferior pneumatic rods have insufficient wall thickness, making them unable to withstand normal pressure and prone to rupture during frequent use or pressure changes.
• Insufficient Purity or Substitution of Inert Gas: Regular products have pneumatic rods filled with inert nitrogen gas, which can withstand thousands of kilograms of pressure. However, unscrupulous manufacturers substitute compressed air, where oxygen can erode the metal inner wall, making the steel brittle and increasing the risk of explosion.
• Temperature Rise Due to Frequent Lifting: During daily use, frequent lifting causes internal friction in the pneumatic rod, generating heat and continuously increasing internal pressure. When it exceeds the limit that the rod wall can bear, an explosion occurs.

Explosion Cases

• In 2007, a seat explosion occurred in Zhoushan, Zhejiang.
• In 2009, a 14-year-old boy in Jiaozhou, Shandong, was impaled by a rod when adjusting a pneumatic chair and died.
• In 2013, Ms. Liu in Fujian Province was sitting on a swivel chair to dry her hair when the chair exploded. A steel pipe about two centimeters in diameter pierced her lower body, and fragments of various shapes were removed from her abdomen, with several pieces of metal debris remaining in her intestines.
• In 2017, an office chair explosion in Anhui damaged a computer case.
• In 2020, a spot check found that some staff chairs produced by enterprises posed an explosion risk. Over the past few decades, more than 40 similar tragedies have occurred in China.

Preventive Measures

• Choose Regular Products: Select products produced by regular manufacturers, preferably those priced at over 200 yuan, for better quality assurance.
• Inspect the Pneumatic Rod: When purchasing, check if the lifting of the pneumatic rod is smooth and ensure that a blast-proof steel plate with a thickness of ≥2 millimeters is installed between the seat cushion and the pneumatic rod.
• Recognize Safety Certifications: When buying a chair, check for relevant safety certification marks.
• Use Correctly: Avoid violent operations during use and do not disassemble the pneumatic rod without authorization to prevent dangers caused by improper use.