Fatality Narrative: Drywall Sprayer Burned by Flash Fire

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  On October 6, 2003, a worker was spraying an shellac primer on to drywall at an apartment unit when a flash fire occurred and the victim was fatally burned. The 43-year-old drywall sprayer was employed by a contractor who was subcontracted to do drywall priming and texture work as part of renovations at several apartment buildings. Shortly before the fatal incident happened, the victim had been using an airless sprayer to apply a shellac primer sealer to drywall in a two-bedroom apartment unit. He had been working for about fifteen minutes spraying primer over drywall when suspended vapors were ignited and a flash fire broke out. Coworkers rushed to the unit where they saw the victim engulfed in flames. They used fire extinguishers to put out the flames and summoned emergency medical personnel. The victim was taken to a hospital were he died several hours later. He suffered thermal burns to 95% of his body. An investigation of the incident determined that the cause of the flash fire was ignition of flammable vapors by an electrical source. The probable source of the ignition was a light bulb that burst during the spraying. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Accident Prevention
  • Accidents
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Education
  • Environmental Exposure
  • Fires
  • Mortality
  • Occupational Health
  • Paint
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Workers
  • Work environment
  • Painters
  • Painting
  • Paint spraying
  • Drywall
  • Drywall finishing
  • Fire hazards
  • Fires
  • Fire safety
  More +
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20051868
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-25-2004, 2004 Oct; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2005
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Fatality narrative: drywall sprayer burned by flash fire
• End Date:
  20260630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228848/cdc_228848_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 29.02 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:dcb479a337207df350befe26fbcdd409bfdd7a37e29f19e61819f748132de0f17202ddb906ab7828ca4aac63221b3d717757900ba778e739e12fdc9c8555908a