Those e-cigarettes can be dangerous, especially for truckers
Smoking is a known health risk, of course, with a well-established nexus to cancer and other adverse outcomes.
As such, warnings regarding the practice have become progressively more dire and explicit over time.
Here’s one that could not have been remotely imagined even a year or so ago: Be careful with a certain type of cigarette because, well, it can explode in your face.
We’re talking e-cigarettes and so-called vaporizers here, which have rocketed into mass popularity across the United States and much of the globe in recent years.
There’s a specific concern regarding these products that the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration would like noted in very public fashion, namely this: Battery-powered inhalants can rupture and “subsequently ignite nearby flammable or combustible materials.” The potential downsides of that for spreading fire are certainly clear. And as noted above, if an e-cigarette explodes near a human body … .
A recently issued safety advisory from the FMCSA focuses on the heightened risk factors present when an e-cigarette malfunction occurs inside a commercial trucking rig.
It is one thing when a combustible material is, say, a pillow on a living-room couch. It is another thing altogether when it is a component inside an 18-wheel configuration barreling down a California interstate at 70 miles per hour in crowded traffic.
And then there’s this, of course: Just imagine the battery of an e-cigarette exploding when a driver is working in a confined area with hazardous materials.
Federal safety regulators say that scores of such explosions have occurred on U.S. roadways in recent years.
Given that, the FMCSA’s focus on e-cigarette use in commercial trucks seems well warranted, with its warning advisory making for an altogether timely announcement.
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