SPRAY PAINT BOOTH ACCIDENTS / INJURIES

Employees #1 and #2 were standing outside the door of a spray paint booth
where an aluminum-based coating was being sprayed onto metal parts. An
explosion occurred inside the booth. Both employees were struck by the
resulting fireball and sustained burns that required hospitalization.

At 5:00 p.m. on October 2, 2017, an employee was working for a firm that
manufactured attic fans. There was a powder coating process in use at the
factory. Residue from the powder coating booth had gradually accumulated
in a vacuum cleaner and filters from the booth. The employee had to empty
the residue. The employee s supervisor had been burning scrap wood, old
pallets and boxes in a burn pit. The employee took the vacuum cleaner filled
with powder to the burn pit. He dumped the vacuum cleaner s contents into
the burn pit. There was still a fire smoldering in the burn pit. The powder
ignited and flared up. The employee sustained first and second degree burns
on both legs. He was hospitalized.

On January 4, 2010, a worker employed in a second-floor administrative

office was overcome by spray paint vapors emanating from a paint booth
located a floor below. The worker suffered from chemical overexposure, and
required hospitalization.

On January 21, 2004, Employee #1, a paint spray booth operator for GST
Auto leather, Inc., a hide tannery and finishing manufacturer, was going to
the control box on the east side of the conveyor system to manually turn the
paint sprayers off for spray booth number three at the end of a particular
cycle of materials, when she either lost her balance and fell through an
opening approximately 14-in. wide, or, had reached into the conveyor system
through the 14-in. opening to retrieve something. In either instance, her right
arm was caught by the conveyor bands and she was pulled into an 8-in.
 SPRAY PAINT BOOTH ACCIDENTS / INJURIES
roller. The roller measured 6 in. above the concrete floor and was rotating at
40 rpm. Employee #1's arm was apparently pulled between the conveyor
bands and roller, and her head became wedged under the roller. Employee
#1 received fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. The paint
sprayers had to be turned on/off manually for the past three to four months
due to problems with the machines' PLC system. The conveyor system used
various size rollers to guide material and had conveyor bands that rotated
the rollers. There were no witnesses to the incident from the point when
Employee #1 was going to the control box. Evidence gathered and observed
at the scene revealed what had probably happened.

Employee #1 and a contractor were remodeling the interior of a single-family

residence. Employee #1 was assisting with a 120-volt airless spray rig
located outside a plastic enclosure erected around a bookcase being
sprayed with lacquer. His boss was spraying inside the booth when it the
exploded, setting the house on fire. Employee #1 sustained serious burns,
for which he was hospitalized. A static spark probably ignited the flammable
vapors and particulates inside the unvented plastic enclosure.

Two employees were seriously burned in a flash fire that occurred while they
were spray painting in a booth at a maintenance facility. There was an
explosion, and the facility caught on fire. The employees were able to
escape, but the building and the booth was destroyed. The fire department
investigation determined that the fire was caused by the ignition of flammable
vapors by an undetermined ignition source. Later, it was discovered that
there was a gas-fired heater in the booth and the associated electrical wiring,
including the thermostat, did not comply with requirements for a Class 1,
Division 1, hazardous location. Employee interviews indicated that the heater
 SPRAY PAINT BOOTH ACCIDENTS / INJURIES
had been in use, and one employee believed he heard the unit heater come
on just before the explosion. The employees were treated at a hospital for
first- and second-degree burns.

Employees #1 through #3 and 23 coworkers were exposed to chemical

vapors when the addition of a microcide to the water treatment system used
to control humidity in the truck paint booth caused a gas release. After an
initial exam, 26 employees were sent to area hospitals for evaluation;
Employees #1 through #3 were admitted for further observation.

Employee #1 was assigned as a spray painter in a paint department. His

responsibilities included mixing paints, spray painting piece parts and mobile
shelter bottoms, and other non-painting and miscellaneous duties. An epoxy
primer was used on all parts to be painted, and a polyurethane paint and
hardener was used on the shelter bottoms. Painting was confined to two
downdraft spray booths equipped with an electrostatic spray apparatus.
Toward the end of the shift, at approximately 5:30 a.m. and after priming and
poly painting three shelter bottoms, Employee #1 was found unconscious
outside the plant and pronounced dead at 6:40 a.m. at Swain County
Hospital in Bryson City, NC. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in
Chapel Hill, NC, identified the probable cause of death as accidental, an
exacerbation of chronic bronchitis and small airway disease, secondary to
hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) sensitivity and possible volatile
respiratory irritants. Employee #1 was potentially exposed to a number of
organic volatiles in the primer and poly top coat, including HDI, a component
of the polyurethane hardener. Breathing zone air samples representative of
Employee #1's exposure to organic volatiles were found to be insignificant
with regard to the legal North Carolina occupational health exposure limits.
 SPRAY PAINT BOOTH ACCIDENTS / INJURIES
HDI was not detected in the air while the shelter bottoms were spray painted
with polyurethane paint. Paint department personnel were provided with and
required to wear full body Tyvek suits, rubber gloves, and respiratory
protection. Employee #1 was wearing a 3M #7251 half mask negative
pressure respirator equipped with a NIOSH-approved organic vapor
cartridge and dust/mist pre-filters.

Employee #1 was involved with operation of the Ransburg electrostatic paint

spraying equipment. Her duties included entering the touch- up booth to
perform touch-up or painting. On this particular day the Employee #1 was
only wearing a particulate dust mask, instead of the proper full facepiece
respirator-F160 TC-23C-90, F60 prefilter for paint lacquers and enamel mist
for use with the Glendale Organic Vapor Cartridge (-21(TC-23C-88)- which
is provided by the company. Employee #1 entered the booth and was
exposed to paint and thinner vapors and became nauseated. Exhaust
ventilation for booth may not have been working. According to management,
a few days prior to the incident the exhaust system was cleaned and the
belts operating the fan may not have been replaced properly, causing the
ventilation to fail.

At approximately 7:30 p.m. on June 18, 1986, Employee #1 was making

electrical repairs to a microswitch on a hydraulic lift table inside an automated
paint spray booth. The table was in a raised position and Employee #1's
head was between the switch bracket and a floor grating support. The switch
was still energized and when two wires accidentally came into contact, the
table dropped onto Employee #1's head. He was killed.