Inspection Detail

Inspection: 119894517 - Sunair Window Corporation

Inspection Information - Office: San Bernardino District Office

Investigation Summary

Employee #1, a 40 year old laborer, was cleaning injection nozzles used to inject butyl rubber between window frames and the glass. This cleaning process was performed once a week for a total work time of approximately four hours, using methyl ethyl ketone solvent and a propane torch. The nozzles, made of 0.375 inch copper tubing 6 inches long, were chucked in a vise. A wire was then used to loosen the butyl. Methyl ethyl ketone was used to loosen the butyl rubber materials. When the butyl was loosened by Employee #1 using the wire and methyl ethyl ketone, the residue was then burned off with the propane torch. The day of the accident, Employee #1 was cleaning nozzles with the propane torch when it tipped and fell on the work bench. The open container, holding approx one quart of methyl ethyl ketone, was ignited. Employee #1 grabbed a fire extinguisher that was on the table and directed the fire extinguisher blast at the base of the flaming container. The flaming methyl ethyl ketone was blown against the cement wall at the back of the work bench. The flaming liquid rebounded off the wall onto the clothes of Employee #1. While trying to extinguish his clothes, Employee #1 was burned, second-and-third-degree burns on his hands and arms, requiring grafting. A fellow employee, hearing and smelling the fire, extinguished the flames with a fire extinguisher.

Keywords: BURN, CLEANING, TORCH, CLEANING FLUID