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Case No.8
| Case No.8 Fire broke out in a Thai restaurant when the owner was trying to lay carpet by himself |
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| [Circumstances of Incident] This accident occurred when a Thai restaurant owner and other workers were laying carpet on the restaurant floor by themselves. On the day of the accident, the restaurant owner-manager A helped by a waiter B started to lay carpet that he and his wife had bought at a nearby home-center. They were doing this work during some spare time before the restaurant opened. One cleaned the floor and another applied adhesive to the back of the carpet and laid it on the floor. The work started at about seven o'clock in the evening. After working for about an hour, fire suddenly broke out at a place where the new carpet had been installed, and spread throughout the entire space, and totally destroying the restaurant by the fire. The manager A was severely burned and died almost instantly. The waiter B who had been working with the manager also died one week after being taken to a hospital. A female Thai worker C, who had been washing dishes in the kitchen in preparation for opening, was also seriously burned. A Thai cook D who was preparing vegetables in the kitchen was also injured by fire although he was able to escape from the building by himself. |
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| [Causes] The direct causes of this accident can be attributed to the adhesive used in the carpet laying work. The adhesive's major component - flammable organic solvent - was spread over the entire space during the work, and was believed to have caught fire from something inside the restaurant, leading to the serious fire that destroyed the entire restaurant. Moreover, as the accident occurred in the cold of winter, it is thought likely that the manager and other workers carried out the work without opening any windows for ventilation, leading to conditions that may have contributed to the sudden outbreak of the fire. While it is assumed that the organic solvent was ignited by one of two kerosene stoves used for drying purposes, there were other sources, including a ventilator. Although it was assumed that it was not used at the time) or sparks from a refrigerator. The most important point, however, is the fact that foreign nationals, without adequate knowledge of adhesives and capability to read instructions in Japanese, were carrying out carpeting work by themselves, by using adhesive purchased at a home-center instead of employing professionals. |
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| [Type of business] Other retail industry [Type of accident] Fire [Number of victims] Two fatalities and two injured (involving absences from work) |
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