Killed by an Office Chair on This Day in History

This day in history: A 14 year-old boy from Jiaozhou, Shandong, China, was killed when the pneumatic cylinder in his office chair exploded, on this day in 2009. This made for a graphic scene, where the chair exploded and chunks of metal flew into his lower body, and he bled to death.

This is not the only time an office chair exploded. "One office chair explosion took place in 2013. A Chinese woman was injured quite badly as the result of a computer chair exploding. Testimony from her brother states that she was...drying her hair when sitting on the chair and all of a sudden the chair exploded. She was lucky to survive as surgeons saved her [by] removing little fragments of screws and plastic out of her flesh." Source

In 2008 a 65 year-old man was injured when a steel rod from an office chair ejected out of an exploding chair.

It seems though that these incidents happen in places where safety standards are lax. Most office chair manufacturers have strict standards to make sure that you are comfortable as well as safe, especially if you buy from a reputable company.