A piece of glass from an IKEA cabinet allegedly shattered into pieces after a man in Singapore took it out from its packaging.

The man's wife, surnamed Zhang, told Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao that she had bought the DETOLF glass-door cabinet from IKEA on Tuesday, June 24, together with her husband and their seven-year-old son.

After they returned home, her husband, wanting to assemble the cabinet, took out a piece of glass from the packaging.

But the moment he took it out, it shattered in his hands, sending shards flying onto his body.

"Some shards nearly flew into his eye, but luckily they landed on his eyelids as he had closed his eyes out of shock," his wife said.

Zhang said her husband sustained cuts on three to five different spots on his right arm and left leg.

While he had some light cuts elsewhere, they were all superficial wounds.

She said the packaging had indicated that the four pieces of glass were tempered glass, and that even if it is damaged, it should not have shattered.

According to the product description on the IKEA website, the cabinet is 163cm tall and 43cm wide.

IKEA agreed to replace the product

Zhang said IKEA had agreed to replace the product, and had also explained that the tempered glass might have broken due to heat.

But she was not pleased that she had to wait till next Tuesday, June 30, for the exchange to be done, and that she had to make a trip down to IKEA to complete the refund.

IKEA's response

According to Zaobao, IKEA has apologised, and arranged for the cabinet to be taken away on Friday, June 26.

IKEA told Zaobao that as the DETOLF cabinet makes use of tempered glass.

In the event that it breaks, the glass will break into pebble-like pieces that are not sharp.

"Because of the tension produced due to movements such as hard blows, the impact might cause the glass to break," IKEA said.

In addition, the furniture company said it would report the incident to the developer of the product, and would also launch an investigation.

Top image adapted via IKEA