Tas: Ban on portable decorative ethanol burners

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Dale Webster, Director of Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading.

An interim ban on portable decorative ethanol burners has been enacted in Tasmania effective from today.

The interim ban comes after serious injuries have been reported nationally from the use of these products, with Tasmania now in line with all other Australian states.

Although there are no known incidents involving these products in Tasmania, Director of Consumer Affairs & Fair Trading Dale Webster said the ban was necessary to protect the Tasmanian community from incurring potentially serious injuries.

“Consumers injured from using alcohol fuelled burners range in age from new-born babies to pensioners, with injuries including second or third degree burns requiring intensive care, skin grafts, operations, lengthy hospital stays and physiotherapy,” Mr Webster said.

The ban targets the products most directly associated with injuries and fires (burners used for display and mood lighting) and excludes products intended for cooking or heating (those with a power output of more than 4.5 kW).

Eighty per cent of injuries and fires appear to involve table-top and free-standing burners, rather than installed fireplaces, so the draft interim ban also excludes burners that require installation in a fixed position.

 

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