How to Avoid Product Liability
Seems like every time we turn around someone is suing someone for a ridiculous reason. Remember the woman with the hot coffee…
Well, one of our Christmas gifts gave us a few laughs over one company’s efforts to avoid product liability. The product was a one quart stainless steel pan – just the right size to heat a can of soup or some veggies. It’s actually called a “Butter Warmer.”
One the back of the label we found these warnings:
Keep small children away from the stove when you’re cooking.
Be careful around the stove as heat, steam, and splatter can cause burns.
Then there was a long paragraph about how cooking fumes or the fumes from melting pot handles, etc. can kill your small pets and birds, so keep them out of the kitchen.
Next, Never leave an empty pan on a hot burner because it can get extremely hot and cause personal injury and/or property damage.
If you see molten aluminum, do not pick up the pan. Turn the burner off and let it cool.
Always use potholders when removing cookware from the oven.
Handles and knobs can get hot and burn you.
There’s more, but you get the idea. Personally, I think anyone who needs to read those instructions probably isn’t bright enough to read, but that’s just me.
Still… in spite of these warnings, I can envision someone trying to sue the pan manufacturer because they burned themselves. All they need to do is say the instructions were printed on the back of the label, so they didn’t notice them.
Did you get gifts with extensive, silly warnings attached? Tell us about them.
Posted: December 31st, 2009 under nonsense.
Tags: nonsense