Outrageous accident caused by cylinder stove: Good master, bad servant

Why would a mother’s loving duty of fixing a family lunch assisted by her daughter one Sunday after Church end tragically, even before lunch was completed and served?

Why would a family’s two precious lives, doing what they love doing for the family, be sadly truncated as they attempted one of their everyday chores of cooking?

The sad bit is why this should happen soon after church, most likely hours after having prayed for God’s protection throughout the week and wishing other members a peaceful week.

Why would an everyday necessary master of a gas stove who has continuously served the family in the preparation of meals without fail, all of a sudden, unawares and without any warning turn around as a bad servant and cut short the promising lives of two members of a staunch Christian family, leaving the rest devastated with a painful unforgettable heartbreak?

Questions

The questions no doubt have been rolling endlessly like a camera in a studio production. They are the type of questions that may have filled the minds of many who heard about the tragic story of a young, hardworking and affable wife and mother and her youthful, intelligent and responsible daughter who had just completed her Senior High School education and was awaiting placement for further studies.

Certainly, they are not questions for mere mortals to answer because the God they served is omniscient and knew what He was doing at the time of the tragedy. That is the comfort that anyone with a strong faith will draw out wholeheartedly in circumstances of this sort.

Future tragedies

Going into the future, however, since the direct cause of the demise of the mother and daughter has been attributed to an explosion from a gas stove they were using to cook, would it be too much to ask that steps be taken by the manufacturer towards averting any future tragedies of the sort for other users?

That freak accident that led to a catastrophic end of lives has been the talk of the town for nearly four weeks now. Talk that has centred on corrective measures for otherwise a useful kitchen device, relatively affordable for most pockets.

Good master, bad servant

As good masters, the discussions and testimonies making the rounds point to worries that the gas stoves have proved to be bad servants sometimes, causing havoc and panic in homes. Of particular mention is the small type which is manufactured with a kind of receptacle sitting directly on top of the gas cylinder.

For some households, these two-in-one gas stoves have proved convenient ‘masters’ used for cooking.  This type is also especially used by those who cannot stand for long to cook.  The stove provides convenience for users to sit down while cooking.

The conversation however and the point coming out strongly is that the regulators for these otherwise expedient gas stoves are problematic, causing panic when lighting or regulating it.

Since the tragic incident in question, I have come across some people who, out of fear are saying they are going to ditch their gas stoves because they have experienced problems with their regulators in the past and never thought it could be life-threatening.

Others who have never had any incident with theirs also think that they have been forewarned enough by the explosion that has caused the lives of a mother and child.

With the negative reactions coming from some users and the fear it is beginning to arouse in others therefore, is it not pre-emptive for the manufacturers of these gas stoves to take steps by causing a recall to investigate and ascertain what the problem is, as it would have been done in some other jurisdictions?

We do not have active consumer watchdogs to speak for consumers in cases like this but the manufacturer could initiate a recall, which has been a common move in cases of problematic products which have received life-threatening concerns by customers.

From as big as aeroplanes to motor vehicles to hair products, medications, food products and something as small as children’s toys, recalls are part of the process of building customer confidence and loyalty.

So as the complaints are coming and freak accidents are happening, some tragic, the manufacturers of the two-in-one gas stoves with problematic regulators should take customer complaints in their stride and take action to instil confidence.

Devoid of a total recall, samples from across the country could be removed from the market and tested.  The results, if well communicated, could be a form of sending assurances to customers and potential customers who are being bombarded with media advertising these days to desist from charcoal usage and switch to gas.

Let us see some action before another tragic accident throws a family and communities into turmoil because a good master has turned out to be a bad servant – I am talking about gas stoves.

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The writer can be reached via email at vickywirekoandoh@yahoo.com