Inspection Detail

Note: The following inspection has not been indicated as closed. Please be aware that the information shown may change, e.g. violations may be added or deleted. For open cases, in which a citation has been issued, the citation information may not be available for 5 days following receipt by the employer for Federal inspections or for 30 days following receipt by the employer for State inspections.

Inspection: 1644644.015 - Linoleum Sales Co Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Ca Oakland

Investigation Summary

At 11:00 a.m. on January 17, 2023, two employees had been assigned to patch 8 areas of vinyl flooring at a customer's site. Tables had been removed by the customer. The employees were supposed to install sheet flooring and weld the new seams to fill in the patches. Prior to entering the building, it was reported that approximately 100 of their tools were cleaned with isopropyl alcohol in the basement and not in the room where the work was to be done. When the employees arrived in the room, the securing bolts had not been removed from the floor, so they decided to cut them off using a cutting-wheel grinder, so that they could apply the patches. Employee #1 went to retrieve the portable grinder in the van and returned to the room after wiping down the tool with isopropyl alcohol. Upon activating the grinder to cut the bolts off from the floor, a fire ignited Employee #1's clothing. While trying to put out the fire on Employee #1, Employee #2's clothing caught on fire as well. There was presence of acetone on Employee #1's shoes and container of acetone based cleaner was found empty in a bucket outside of the room as well as a bottle of isopropyl alcohol. Both employees suffered third degree burns and subsequently died from their injuries.

Keywords:acetone, burn, cleaning, clothing, cutting, fire, flooring , grinder, hand tool, ignite, ignition, isopropyl alcohol, repair, spark