Is no place, no action, safe from a potential injury at work? Guess not.
A worker was taken to the hospital after a toilet she was using exploded at the General Services Administration Building in Washington, DC.
The woman’s injuries are serious, but not life threatening. A D.C. fire and EMS spokesman says the woman suffered wounds to her lower body caused by flying debris.
Officials said bathrooms in the building were off limits for a time. Employees received this memo via email:
“DO NOT flush toilets or use any domestic water. Due to a mechanical failure, there is high air pressure in the domestic water system that resulted in damage to toilets. The engineering staff is working to correct the issue. There has been damage to flushed toilets that has resulted in injuries. We will announce when the issue is resolved.”
Later, the bathrooms were declared safe to use again.
Think this is a hoax? Huffington Post interviewed plumbers who said this is within the realm of possibility.
Apparently, water flowing through a city’s system is sent at a higher pressure because it travels long distances. The water needs to be slowed down once it reaches its destination. A malfunction in the pressure-reducing valve can lead to this type of result.
Chuck White, a VP for the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association, told Huffington that he’s never seen exploding toilets himself, but it is something you read about in plumbing textbooks.
Bathroom injuries aren’t restricted to just slip-and-falls.
