Boy Killed By Exploding Office Chair

The Land of Smeg writes "A fourteen-year-old boy was killed after the chair he was sitting on exploded, propelling sharp chairs parts into his rectum, resulting in extensive bleeding, to which he succumbed before medical attention could stem the flow. The chair in question was a standard gas cylinder type, where the height is regulated by an adjustable cylinder containing highly pressurized gas, and it was this which exploded, sending high velocity chair parts into the posterior of the unfortunate youth."

Wow...

[danep]

Apparently this has been a danger for decades with similar incidents reported in China [chinadaily.com.cn], Britain, Belgium, and Germany [securitydigest.org].

Rectum?

[Profane MuthaFucka]

Hell, it fucking KILLED him.

Re:

[BakaHoushi]

I'm glad I wasn't drinking tea when I read that or else I'd be currently on the market for a new monitor.

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[sjames]

You also have to factor in acceleration. For example, if he jumped up and into the chair for some reason (he was 14, who knows why?).

He was Atlantean

[tobiah]

His blood's all over that chair. Where have you been all day?

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[ScrewMaster]

His blood's all over that chair. Where have you been all day?

Atlantean royalty.

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[dov_0]

There is blood. He was Royal...

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[Sitnalta]

I agree. This is probably a hoax. Never mind the fact that there's no blood ANYWHERE, or that there're no pictures of the ruptured gas canister itself, just look at the news sources. Do they look like credible news sites to you?

Until I see some credible evidence I'm just going to file this under urban legends. The fact is: people are liars, doubly so when juvenile shits and giggles can be had at the expense of gullible people on the internet.

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[QuasiEvil]

Not only that, but every chair I have has a metal plate on the bottom, between the gas cylinder and the sittin' part. There's no way one of those cylinders could blow that big of a hole in that plate.

OMG!

[garretraziel]

I'll never sit on my chair again!

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[KibibyteBrain]

I always knew sitting in a chair all day in front of a computer would kill me, but not quite in this way.

This is...

[Crashspeeder]

a horrible way to die. Poor kid.

This is an old, existing problem.

[pcgabe]

Per this story [ncl.ac.uk] from the '80s:

The problem has cropped up with adjustable office chairs fitted with
nitrogen gas cylinders in place of the conventional springs in their height
control mechanism. Preliminary findings suggest that metal fatigue cracks
can develop in the cylinders, possibly caused by the poor chairs being asked
to cope with more than they can bear.

In short, if your chair uses a spring (most likely), then you are in no danger. You can sit easily now.

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[pcgabe]

OK, so now I've read the article (I don't know whether to go "What? I posted before reading the article?" or "What? I've read the the article?"), and it says:

Oil based hydraulic devices are said to be safer, but most such chairs on the market today use gas cylinders; naturally these tend to be made in China, where this accident occurred.

(emphasis mine)

Is this true? All (three) of my desk chairs use springs. ....how old is my furniture? I know I've had to replace the cushions a couple of times...

Slowly backing away from my chair now...

[tobiah]

Actually, I usually sit on an exercise ball. Coworkers ask me about it every once in awhile, I'm the only one doing this (that I know of) in a fair-sized company. I am totally posting this, just to see the reaction.

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[Cougar_]

My sister-in-law was sitting on one of those, holding her newborn baby, when it burst. Not a good thing.

Re:Slowly backing away from my chair now...

[AGMW]

My sister-in-law was sitting on one of those, holding her newborn baby, when it burst. Not a good thing.

Her baby burst? Now that's really gotta ruin your day!

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[hedwards]

That's why the make burst proof ones. They do still leak, but when they get a hole they don't burst suddenly, they'll just deflate relatively gently.

Slowly backing away from my chair now...

[tobiah]

Actually, I usually sit on an exercise ball. Coworkers ask me about it every once in awhile, I'm the only one doing this in a fair-sized company. (that I know of) I am totally posting this, just to see the reaction.

NSFW

[tobiah]

and TFA link totally needs a NSFW warning. Dude, seriously.

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[conureman]

The bottom of the page has a link to another unlucky kid with a protruding arrow. You have been warned

Oblig

[mgiuca]

Next on Slashdot: Steve Ballmer authorizes a large shipment of office chairs for his meeting rooms.

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[KibibyteBrain]

This is the real reason he threw the chair. He realized it was about to explode and got it out of the way just in time. What a hero.

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[JustOK]

too late...

Before the obese generation

[PingPongBoy]

Yet another reason to acquire

buns of steel

Suspicious Pictures of Chair...

[Kolie]

The second picture of the chair totally looks like a goatse. Amirite? http://www.sankakucomplex.com/wp-content/gallery/cache/33373__448x_exploded-chair-gas-cylinder.jpg [sankakucomplex.com]

I had no clue...

[Korey Kaczor]

I had no clue that the exploding chairs in the video game Goldeneye 007 wasn't a programming oversight, but a feature. You learn something new every day -- you really do.