Is a toaster an undue fire hazard in a workplace breakroom?

In My Humble Opinion
1

We were recently told to get rid of all “personal appliances” that had two-pronged (ungrounded) electrical plugs at work. The only exceptions would be made for personal fans and radios. Anything that did not comply had to be removed by last Friday or it would be removed for us. Fair enough. I actually don’t know anyone who had to remove anything. I heard there were some coffeepots up in Sales–guess they’ll be drinking the crap vending machine coffee or bringing a Thermos.

Well, even though, we all knew about the ban, it was still somewhat of a shock to come in on Monday and find that the toaster in the breakroom was missing, and it actually took a while to connect the two events. Did it break? Did they think we were consuming too much electricity by making toast? Did they have to sell it to make payroll? Well, it was confirmed that the ban on ungrounded appliances extended to the breakroom, and was for insurance reasons, and, of course, there was no budget to replace it with a toaster that complied with current regulations. Sorry!

I hardly ever used the thing, so I’m not sure why this sticks in my craw so bad. One of the people I normally take break with noticed right away, because she had brought bread. Bread she expected to make into toast. With so much that is crappy going on at work and in the world, it was one nice, little luxury. Yeah, the microwave is still there (when it works) but that makes bread all tough. You could buy one of those breakfast sandwiches out of the vending machine, toast the bread and microwave the other contents, and then put it back together for something quite edible.

My question is, is a toaster really so dangerous? Should I keep one in my home? If they are so dangerous, why aren’t they made with grounded plugs? Would the danger be mitigated by unplugging the thing? Is the problem just that, with so many people, someone would forget to unplug it? I have a toaster, and had no problems renting an apartment or securing renter’s or, later, homeowner’s insurance. My toaster is usually unplugged, but that’s only because I have to use that outlet for other things, too.

With the way the world and our company environment is today, I keep thinking that there must be something nefarious going on. That’s silly, right? There is nothing to be gained by getting rid of the toaster. We are just safer, that’s all.

Obvious disclaimer: I know I am so lucky to have any job at all, and I should just quit my bitching and get back to work (another disclaimer: It is Saturday morning and I am not at work now.) We have no right to toast. Soon enough, I am sure I will get the opportunity to stay at home and eat all the toast I want. Until I run out of money and cannot buy bread and am forced to boil my shoes like Charlie Chaplin. Maybe I’ll stick them in the toaster.

2

I am aware of a similar situation. All toasters, toaster ovens, microwaves, etc. had to go. The story was it was a decree from the Fire Marshall’s office.
Someone checked the story and the fire marshall didn’t know anything about it.
Turned out that the company which had the food concession for the building got a clause slipped into their contract which prohibited food being brought in from outside.
Their contract wasn’t renewed.

3

Your two-pronged toaster is double insulated.

Don’t stick metal objects into it and you should be quite safe.

As far as the workplace issue. It’s probably not the same situation where you are but my company has threatened to remove toasters and/or ban microwave popcorn because people burn things and set off the smoke detectors. This is quite expensive for the company since production is lost while the building is evacuated. They could just have the fire response team evaluate the area to determine whether the building needs to be evacuated (they have to respond there anyhow) but they haven’t made up their minds on that yet.

4

My workplace got quite the stern E-mail a few months back about burning things in microwaves (especially popcorn) and toasters. I work in a hospital. Fire alarms there are extra-disruptive, and you’re not supposed to be wasting time during the alarm going looking for the fire, when you could be evacuating patients instead. Fortunately most of our buildings are built such that you only need to evacuate to beyond a fire door further along on the floor, but it’s still a huge hassle and disruption, not to mention a potential safety risk for very ill patients.

5

I know of no incidents where smoke alarms have gone off due to burning toast or popcorn, so I’m not sure that factors into it. I think if they banned popcorn at work, there would be a riot. That’s all some people ever bring for lunch! If they banned outside food all together, or got rid of the microwave, I would have to join in the riot.

Is there some extra-cheap insurance businesses can get if they promise not to have toasters?

6

I’m no insurance expert but I work in a facility with a very high fire risk and the insurance company has never given us any grief about toasters in the break room, ungrounded or otherwise. It sounds to me like they’re using the insurance thing as an excuse but what I don’t know could fill oceans maybe they have a good reason I just don’t see.

7

So, I googled “three-pronged toasters” and got this page which seems to feature the same toaster repeatedly from different vendors. Most of those vendors are office supply stores. Perhaps this is not so unusual after all. I’m guessing this toaster is just designed to get around silly regulations at workplaces.

We must be hard-up if they can’t come up with $43. Perhaps we could take up a collection. What do you want to bet that that idea would be quashed?

8

FWIW, my toaster at home started to smoke spontaneously the other day. It was sort of an unpleasant, plasticky smell. Even after unplugging it and waiting a while and trying again, it came back. There was no evidence of any foreign body in the toaster. It was the heating elements inside that started the smoking. We decided to just replace the toaster rather than see if it would eventually result in flames, although my husband might have enjoyed that experiment.

9

Fire regulations are inherently local to the city/county where the building is. Insurance company demands are inherently specific to the policy your employer or landlord has. And while management stupidity may be a universal force of Nature, the particular flavor at your office is totally specific to your office.

So all you’re gonna get here is anecdote of dubious relevance. So here’s mine:

We just had a fire marshal inspection of our 40-person free-standing office building. The only requirement for electrical safety was that anything not hard-wired to the building had to be plugged directly into an outlet or plugged into a UPS / surge protector / power strip equipped with a fuse or circuit breaker. IOW, no ordinary extension cords were allowed.

So a toaster was fine as long as it wasn’t on a plain extension cord.

10

When I lived in a college dorm, the only appliances we were allowed were refrigerators, microwave ovens and hot air popcorn poppers. In other words, no heating appliances, like toasters, toaster ovens or hot plates.

11

When I worked at the hospital, I was amazed at the use and abuse of the appliances; coffee makers, microwaves, fridges and toasters. People would stuff huge items, wet items, you name it, into the toaster, pile things on top of it…no common sense what-so-ever used and set off the smoke alarms at least once a year until our manager banned it. Anything can be a hazard if abused and someone can be counted on to abuse a right or a privilege when enough people are around.