Failure of tanning bed timer to shut off

A young woman was burned severely when she slept for over two hours under a tanning bed, whose timer failed to shut off power after the selected interval. A suit was filed against the operator of the tanning salon and manufacturer of the tanning bed.

MDL & Associates inspected the tanning bed, and reviewed the complaint history on this model filed with the Food and Drug Administration. (Tanning beds are regulated medical devices.) Comparison of the product involved in this incident with the Underwriters Laboratories file for this model indicated that the manufacturer had substituted an electrical component of 10 amp rating in place of the approved 20 amp component. The actual operating current was about 15 amps.

Following submission of our expert report, this case was settled very quickly by the manufacturer.