19 April 2004

By Chandrea Gerber

INNOVATIVE? Design a safe paraffin stove and you could see your invention burning its way into the worldwide market.

This call for safe stove designs comes after the Paraffin Safety Association of Southern Africa (PASASA) and Proudly South African joined forces to find a safe, practical and cost effective solution to the problem of unsafe paraffin stoves.

The proposal to hold a competition for the best design follows a series of devastating fires in the Western Cape informal settlements, which alerted attention to the increased risk of fires in Gauteng, including Mogale, with the approach of the dry highveld winter.

According to the PASASA website www.pasasa.org/new/index.html, the manufacture and sale of sub-standard paraffin appliances such as paraffin stoves have caused an untold number of fires and burns. As a result, PASASA recommends legislation "ensuring mandatory standards for stoves and compliance by manufacturers", and that all paraffin stoves include a self-extinguishing device that would put the flame out immediately if the stove is accidentally knocked over.

"But," says Nazeema Ahmed, managing director of PASASA, "we are well aware that there is little point lobbying government to ban sub-standard paraffin stoves if we can't offer people a safe and affordable alternative."

So, the call for innovative designs has been made, and although "we are still working on some of the detail, there's no reason that would-be stove designers shouldn't start giving the issue some thought right now", says Martin Feinstein, chief executive of Proudly South African.

"Our priority now is to find a sound, safe design. Then we plan to approach manufacturers," says Ahmed, adding that there is a local market of 20-million people, and potential markets in India, Pakistan and Brazil - so there must be "some economies of scale that should help bring the unit costs down".

PASASA's mandate is the promotion of safety in the domestic use of paraffin, due to the unacceptably high levels of harmful human, financial and economic consequences. Based on national surveys and hospital records between 1996 and 2001 in South Africa, it has been estimated that 80 000 children ingest paraffin ever year, while more than 200 000 people are injured or lose their property in paraffin-related fires every year.

A series of tests on the nine most commonly used paraffin stoves in South Africa was just completed by Test House, a South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) affiliated company, commissioned by PASASA, and the results are alarming. All nine of the stoves failed the current SABS standards, and failed an average of six or more of the SABS codes.

PASASA maintains that it is a matter of public health and safety that these findings, which have been presented to the SABS and the Department of Minerals and Energy, result in a compulsory standard which stoves must comply with, to ensure customer safety.

"It may seem a tall order, but 2 000 years ago people were mass manufacturing cheap oil lamps that didn't burst into flame if they were knocked over. With all the knowledge we have at our disposal now, plus plenty of South African ingenuity, there's no reason we can't design a safe, affordable paraffin stove," encourages Ahmed.

Put all your South African ingenuity to the test, and start brainstorming a design for a safe stove. Here are some guidelines:

• A well-designed paraffin stove should be stable and should not burst into flames if knocked over
• The stove should not leak paraffin during normal use or if knocked over
• The fuel temperature should not exceed 45 degrees Celsius during use
• The stove should be durable and come with complete instructions, illustrated with diagrams on safe use and maintenance
• The stove should ideally retail for less than R30

Paraffin Safety and Proudly South African will announce all the details of the initiative shortly, including final design specifications, closing dates, contact details and prizes. They hope to announce the winning design before national paraffin safety day on 1 June.

For further information, contact the Paraffin Safety Association of South Africa on
(021) 424-3473.