SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Electrical shock / short

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20180715-F2939-2147386785. Severity: Injury, First Aid Received by Non-Medical Professional. Product: TROY-BILT TB180B (TROY-BILT Leaf Blower TB180B (serial unlegiable) Item 41BA180G966). Incident: I was using my TROY-BILT leaf blower to blow the water off my truck after I washed it and the fan housing exploded. I had the blower at shoulder height as I was blowing the water off the truck hood when it exploded. The internal fan broke apart sending shrapnel everywhere, I was hit in the neck and 3/4 of the fan stayed together and hit me in the shoulder. I had two lacerations on my neck which thankfully did not do serious damage, instead just bled for 10 to 15 min. The big chunk of fan that hit my shoulder created a softball size bruise because it busted one of the veins that runs across my deltoid. It also busted the skin and bled a little through my shirt. I am blessed because I realize this could have been much worse, especially soo close to my head and eyes. I have a handful of pics to go with my claim, my wife was standing 4 feet away when it happened and she thought I some how got electrocuted when she heard the Big Bang and I dropped the blower and jumped away.