Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1529450.015 - Sos Entertainment Llc

Inspection Information - Office: San Diego District Office

Investigation Summary

At 1:00 p.m. on May 4, 2021, an employee working as a laborer for an entertainment company was working inside a commercial building that had previously been used as a cabinet shop. The employer is a party equipment rental company that had leased the building to use as a storage facility. The employee and two coworkers were tasked with cleaning out excessive amounts of sawdust, equipment and other materials that had been left behind from the previous tenant. Although the employee had helped clean up the employer's main facility in the past, this job was outside of his regular duties and he had never worked with this amount of dust in the past. The crew was using leaf blowers, shop vacs, boards and brooms to clean the dust. They also used the pre-existing vacuum system that was engineered into the building. A crew had started the cleaning process the day prior. The employee was working on top of a bathroom mezzanine cleaning the dust. A different coworker who identified as an independent contractor was using the bathroom at the time. There was an electric water heater on the mezzanine and according to those in the crew who was interviewed, the independent contractor may have been using the sink in the bathroom at the same time the dust ignited. There were other potential ignition sources in the area as well such as multiple 120-volt live junction boxes and lighting fixtures and wiring to the bathroom. There was also a low voltage alarm system on the exterior bathroom wall underneath the water heater. The sawdust had accumulated to the point that a combustible dust explosion occurred. Coworkers witnessed the explosion and noted that the employee was seriously injured when the airborne sawdust ignited. The employee was hospitalized for multiple days to treat burns on 30 to 39 percent of his body and an acute kidney injury.

Keywords: Arm, Back, Burn, Chest, Cleaning, Combustible Dust, Commercial Building, Dust, Engineering Controls, Entertainment, Explosion, Fire, Hand Tool, Ignite, Ignition, Kidney, Lack of Engineering Controls, Lack of Work Procedures, Leg, Misjudgment, Misjudgment of Hazardous Situation, Sawdust, Skin, Storage Area, Storage Room, Torso, Unsafe Position, Warehouse