Death by vending machine

Vending machines being rocked or tilted have been known to cause serious injury and death when the heavy machines fall over.

Full size vending machines can weigh over 450 kilograms (990 lb), creating a risk of serious injury or death if tilted until they fall over.

Users may rock machines in order to obtain free products, release stuck products, or obtain change.[1] The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found in a 1995 study that at least 37 deaths and 113 injuries had occurred due to falling vending machines from 1978 to 1995.[2][3] This resulted in a voluntary campaign from vending machine manufacturers to warn that rocking or tilting the machines could cause serious injury or death, including placing warning labels on all machines.[3][4][5] The U.S. military started putting warning labels on machines in the late 1980s after a number of incidents on military installations.[6]

The vast majority of injuries and deaths have happened to men.[7][8][9]

The argument that death by a vending machine is more likely to occur than something like winning the Powerball lottery, has drawn more attention to these unusual deaths.[10] One 2012 report states that the odds of winning Powerball are 1 in 175 million, versus 1 in 112 million of getting killed by a vending machine.[11] The deaths have also at times been associated with "Darwin Awards".[12]

References
  1. (1 January 1992). Soft-drink machine crushes woman who kicked it, Sun Journal (Associated Press)
  2. (13 September 1998). Warning: Don't Jiggle That Vending Machine, Chicago Tribune
  3. (2 November 1995). CPSC, Soda Vending Machine Industry Labeling Campaign Warns Of Deaths And Injuries, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
  4. Morford, Mark (18 July 2001). Death By Vending Machine / Warning: Large heavy appliances can be hazardous to your health, San Francisco Chronicle
  5. (10 February 1995). Teen-Ager Crushed To Death Under Vending Machine, Orlando Sentinel
  6. (2 January 1996). Newest Safety tip: Tilting a vending machine can be hazardous to your health, Toledo Blade
  7. Abraham, Marc (20 January 2015). The (mainly) men who have fallen under sway of drinks vending machines, The Guardian
  8. Soda Pop Vending Machine Injuries, JAMA. 1988;260(18):2697-2699
  9. Cosio, Michael Q.; Taylor, Gregg W. (June 1992). "Soda Pop Vending Machine Injuries: An Update". Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma. 6 (2): 186–189. doi:10.1097/00005131-199206000-00009. ISSN 0890-5339. PMID 1602339. S2CID 2499640.
  10. Miller, Sara G. (12 January 2016). Will You Win Powerball? A Vending Machine Death Is More Likely, Live Science
  11. Memott, Mark (28 November 2012). Winning Powerball? It's More Likely A Vending Machine Will Kill You, NPR
  12. McGehee, Lucy. Cause of Death: Vending Machine, edspace.american.edu (2018)
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