One of the injured children in hospital
One of the injured children in hospitalCourtesy

At least three children have been hospitalized after their fingers were injured by a Muller fan, with one losing a finger to the fan’s blades.

The father of one three-year-old boy related how, in a busy moment just before the Sukkot festival, his son stuck his fingers between the metal mesh of the finger guard. The whirling metal blades literally sliced off his son’s finger. Then, in hospital, he met the parents of other children who had suffered similar injuries.

“This fan has stainless-steel blades and the product insert says that the mesh is especially dense for ‘maximum safety,’” one father related. “My son had to be taken to Tel Hashomer hospital and underwent an operation to reattach his finger. We found two other families there with children with injuries from Muller fans. One little boy suffered a deep cut and had to have stitches.

The CEO of the Osher Ad supermarket chain, the importer of this model of fan, spoke with one of the fathers and apologized for the incident. “He told me the fans would be recalled, and the company sent gifts to the hospitalized children.”

All the same, the parents noted that they are considering suing the company, once their medical sagas are over. However, attorney Avi Weinroth, who is representing the import company, stated that the parents are guilty of negligence in these particular incidents. “This is an industrial fan, and the instructions explicitly state that neither fingers nor other objects should be inserted into the product, and that children or people with disabilities should not be left unattended while the fan is in use.”

He noted that these fans have been in use for a long period without incident, and that “they have received the proper approval as required from the Standards Institute. We wish the children a swift recovery.”