Construction Fatality Narrative: Day Laborer Burned in Adhesive Explosion

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  A 53-year-old day laborer died when the vinyl flooring adhesive he was applying ignited and the vapor exploded. He worked for his employer, a general contractor, for four years doing random odd jobs on an informal, as-needed basis. He and an assistant were installing vinyl flooring in a commercial building under renovation. They were working alone and unsupervised but received instruction from the employer over the phone. They hoped to finish quickly, but the liquid flooring adhesive was not bonding well. The laborer said the room was too cold and decided to use an open-flame propane torch to heat up the adhesive and flooring. Forty minutes later, the torch ignited either the adhesive vapor or liquid on the floor. The workers tried to stamp out the fire with their feet but were unable to. The assistant yelled at the laborer to flee and ran for an exit door. He then felt an explosion, looked back, and saw the laborer trying to shut off the torch as smoke filled the room. Dizzy and nauseous, he yelled again to the laborer but lost sight of him as he continued toward the door. When he reached the door, a second explosion threw him outside. He was then able to move further from the building. The laborer came out shortly after, in flames and screaming. He fell near the door just before a third explosion blew it off. The area around him was too hot for the assistant to approach. Neighbors called 911. First responders rescued the assistant and extinguished the blaze. The laborer died at the scene from burns and smoke inhalation. Following the incident, investigators found: The employer did not have an accident prevention program (APP) nor provide the workers Safety Data Sheets (SDS), chemical hazard training, and fire extinguishers before the job began. The SDS for the flammable liquid adhesive indicated it had a high risk of explosion at a low vapor concentration in the air. The adhesive spread over the large surface area in the unventilated building emitted enough vapor to reach the lower explosive limit and ignite while the torch was lit. Four 5-gallon buckets of adhesive were left open in the building, increasing the vapor concentration. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Adhesives Construction Industry Hazardous Substances Mortality Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Chemical Hazards Construction Explosive Hazards Fatalities Safety Education
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Publisher:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  San Francisco Region [OSHA] ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070903
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-265-2025, 2025 Apr; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Construction fatality narrative: day laborer burned in adhesive explosion
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d7d5b97641f574e77bc81403f5af1a44fa2766a392430e07654b42ffc851ba6069d135bf02c9e47341d9c5d69f83b1dcfb84ec01ed464f2d7991516cdf68c5a8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/229238/cdc_229238_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 297.17 KB ]