Due to a plumbing malfunction that sent tiny shards of porcelain flying, two workers were injured by exploding toilets at a federal building in Washington D.C.
A woman employed by the General Services Administration (GSA) building suffered serious cuts to her leg from debris that was propelled by the toilet explosion and was subsequently hospitalized.
Within minutes of the initial incident, another toilet exploded, injuring another worker who was in the bathroom at that moment.
Chuck White, who serves as vice-president of Technical and Code Services for the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association, mentioned that although he has never personally witnessed an exploding toilet, it is something that can be found in plumbing literature.
‘If you’re not careful about how you release pressure, the contents of that bowl will come up like Old Faithful,’ White explained to the Huffington Post. ‘Plus, you would have the surprise factors,’ he continued.
According to GSA spokesman William Marshall, the incident stemmed from a control system malfunction that led to increased pressure within the water storage tank, which subsequently caused the plumbing system to ‘malfunction’ when flushed.
A memo was distributed to the 2,500 federal employees in the eight-storey building, announcing that the bathrooms were off-limits due to the plumbing issues, deeming the situation unsafe.
