Custom Performance Coating, Inc.: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on May 12, 2020 (fatal): Employee dies after falling into industrial paint remover

At 9:52 a.m. on May 12, 2020, an employee was working for a firm that performed powder coating, sandblasting, and miscellaneous jobs on parts and other customer-related items. He had been working for the firm for three days. Earlier in the morning, the shop manager had taken a 190-liter (50-gallon) rugged plastic tote containing B17 industrial paint remover to just outside the front of the building. The tote contained 75 to 95 liters (20 to 25 gallons) of the paint remover. The paint remover was used to remove dried paint from parts when errors were made during a powder coating operation. It was a corrosive liquid with a pH of 1 to 2, with ingredients such as methylene chloride, formic acid, phenol, and hydrofluoric acid. The employee walked outside the front entrance to take his morning break. There were no witnesses or coworkers outside. Apparently the employee sat down on the tote's plastic lid. It gave way, and the employee was immersed in the paint remover. He got back out of the tote, but a major portion of his body was covered with the chemicals. He immediately suffered chemical burns. He yelled, ran to the bathroom, and stripped his clothes off. The shop manager called the fire department and started hosing the employee off with a garden hose. Upon arrival, the fire department loaded the employee into an ambulance and took him to the burn intensive care unit at Medstar Washington Hospital Center. The employee was treated for life-threatening injuries, but he died. The District of Columbia's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner's autopsy report said that the employee had suffered third- and second-degree chemical burns over 34 percent of his body. During an investigation, the shop manager said that the employee was a laborer in training. His responsibilities included preparing metal parts for powder coating, but he had not progressed to the point in training to work with the paint remover. The shop manager was primarily responsible for handling that liquid. responsible for handling that liquid.