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It isn’t a recall just yet, but in the meantime, Orion Safety Products has issued a safety notice and has requested that dealers quarentine all Skyblazer XLT aerial flares. To quote from their Safety Notice:

Orion Safety Products, manufacturer of the Skyblazer hand-launched red aerial flare (“Skyblazer”), has received a report indicating the safety sleeve on the Skyblazer may become detached from the launch tube body during ignition (see diagram below for visual depiction of parts). A report from the field indicates that upon this occurrence, users experienced bruised knuckles, a punctured finger nail and a lacerated finger in at least one instance.

Orion is currently focusing on Skyblazer production occurring since April 2008 and is working closely with its injection molder for the Skyblazer plastic parts to determine what the cause of the problem may be and when it first appeared. The detachment of the safety sleeve from the launch tube body does not affect flare performance (i.e., altitude, candela, burn time). This problem is specific to the Skyblazer signal and does not affect any other Orion products.

To the extent much remains unknown at present, Orion is recommending that all retailers, distributors and dealers of the Skyblazer product remove such product from their shelves and discontinue the sale of this product to the marketplace at this time. Orion will notify all such parties as to the proper disposition of this product once the investigation has sufficiently progressed.

Orion has not instituted a recall of the Skyblazer product at this time. For product users that are in emergency situations, Orion suggests that the Skyblazer signal only be used if alternative emergency distress signals are unavailable. For added protection, if Skyblazer signals must be used, Orion suggests:

• The user hold the signal body (not the sleeve) tightly in the upper hand during launch
• Gloves be worn to protect the lower hand (the hand pulling the ignition chain) from being jammed
against the launch tube body and ignition chain following ignition

Orion is critically concerned about the safety of our customers. We are notifying the U.S. Coast Guard of this problem and will be posting updates and consumer information on the Orion website at www.orionsignals.com. We want to make certain more Skyblazers are not sold until the cause of the current problem is known and remedied. We want to make certain that current product users relying on the Skyblazer product are not put at unnecessary risk. We thank you for your patience and understanding while we continue our investigation of this matter.

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More information and current status can be found on the Orion Safety Products web site.