Inspection Detail

Inspection: 310494984 - Sierra Glass And Mirror Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

Employee #1 was working for Sierra Glass and Mirror Inc., which installed glass at residential and commercial sites. On the day of the accident, Employee #1 was using denatured alcohol to separate laminated glass. He had been working at Sierra Glass and Mirror Inc for about eight years. He was doing his regularly assigned work, and he had been working in this particular work area for about 6 years. He was a manager. There were two stages to separating the glass, and each stage consisted of pouring about 1.5 to 2 ounces of denatured alcohol onto the laminated glass. Employee #1 was working on the second stage of separating the glass with denatured alcohol. It was later determined that Employee #1 had not been formally trained on the health and safety hazards of denatured alcohol, and any training he had received was verbal or acquired through observation. Because denatured alcohol burned with a clear flame, it was difficult to see if denatured alcohol had ignited. Employee #1 had thought the first stage was done, and he had proceeded to the second stage. At that point, he noticed a small flame on the can of denatured alcohol that he was holding with his right hand. He tried to put out the flames, but the can exploded in his right hand. The explosion caused injuries to his right hand and the right-hand side of his torso. Employee #1 was transported to Huntington Memorial Hospital and later transported to Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, where he had skin graft surgery to his right upper arm and thorax, with skin that came from his right thigh. During the investigation following the accident, the employer did not submit training documents indicating that Employee #1 had been trained in the health and safety hazards of chemicals, general safety of work, and so forth. Moreover, based on the lack of documentation, the conclusion was that Employee #1 was not trained on how to safely work with denatured alcohol.

Keywords: BURN, ALCOHOL, FLAMMABLE LIQUID, WORK RULES, TORSO, EXPLOSION, MANUAL MAT HANDLING, SKIN, ARM, UNTRAINED