Inspection Detail

Inspection: 309906402 - Phenomenex Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At about 10:30 a.m. on June 20, 2007, an explosion occurred at Phenomenex, Inc., 2320 W. 20th St, Torrance, CA 90501. Employee #1, the manufacturing manager, Employee #2, the project coordinator, and Employee #3, a lab technician, all regular employees, responded to a call by another lab technician that there was a bad smell coming from a sealed one gallon glass bottle on the floor under a counter in the HLPC unit 55 in the QA/QC area. As the three arrived, the bottle exploded. None of the employees were wearing appropriate eye or face protection. Employee #1 received a laceration of the cheek, Employee #2 a facial abrasion and Employee #3 a panic attack with decreased blood pressure. The employer is a high tech manufacturer and distributor of separation sciences chromatography instruments. Laboratory tools must be cleaned periodically. The lab has used nitric acid and acetonitrile for this purpose for the last ten years. This time the person cleaning the tools stored the waste cleaning solution in a one gallon glass bottle with a cap. The mix generated gases which expanded and caused the bottle to explode. Employees #1 and #2 were assisted to eyewash fountains. Then Employees #1, #2 and #3 were taken to the Little Company of Mary Hospital Emergency Room in Torrance, CA where Employees #1 and #2 were treated for minor cuts and released without admission. Employee #2 was observed for several hours and released without admission. All three then returned to work.

Keywords: EXPLOSION, ABRASION, CHEMICAL