I have said it many times. We get to see / hear of many accidents with spray adhesive , contact adhesives etc. Without sounding rude here, well you lot dont get to see and hear about accidents like we do. HSE, colleges etc soon get to hear of accidents as they look upon us to educate installers. Please take care when using them, one of the lads on the apprenticeship has found out just how dangerous flammable adhesives are. Poor chap was installing flooring in a kitchen when a back boiler (warm air heating) ignited the fumes. He was set on fire! He is o.k and still working hard, the picture is a few weeks after this happened. Please note that YOU the employer / owner are responasble for peoples H+S. When using any adhesive you are responsible for EVERYONE within the area you are using a product. If your using spray adhesive for example in a block of flats with 200 people living there, well you are responsable for supplying the correct protective equipment to the 200 people, you are responsible for H+S in surrounding areas. PLEASE TAKE NOTE !!!!
Yes back boilers can be lethal , I remember years ago when we used to fit a lot of the foam backs .we had this lounge carpet laid out all corners cut out and carpet folded back from the edges so we could spray the perimeter of the room with good old spray glue .... now bear in mind the room had a sofa in the middle of it , and believe it or not the customer was sitting on this sofa watching and chatting to us .. my mate I was working with at the time had nearly sprayed all around the room and was just under the fire when I herd the WOOSH of the back boiler as it ignited..setting the fumes from the can alight , and sent a flame all around the edge of the room . well we just acted out of shock and horror , flapped the carpet back on the edges which put the flames out , thank god , turned to look at the customer who was laughing her tits off at the pair off us panicking ( I suppose we were lucky to be working in a council estate that day ) there was no damage to carpet or the skirting boards , and if memory serves me right , we even got a tip from that lady .... The lad who works for me now still thinks I'm telling him fibs when he hears that tale , but we only learn from our own mistakes !!
We did a repair job in a hotel A bout 5 years ago it was a complete refurb all shut for a month, the new kitchen went in then we had to patch cap / cove where the old units were missing so sprayed it all up and all was goin well untill we got to close to the new cooker that was installed with a perminant pilot light oops half the perimeter that we sprayed ignited can still see my mate now running round with a off cut of vinyl hitting it against the coving, nasty stuff never even thought about how easy it is to ignite untill it happens now we always go through and check boilers pilots and turn them all off at mains before using it
I can remember somebody spraying underneath a night storage heater one evening i an estate agents when I heard a big loud crack and a flash.ooops was that you cre8tive.....
Ha ha ha, but not learning from my first mistake, put it out but then done it again shortly after! Lol when I started reading your reply I knew it was coming.
On a different note, I was using spray to prime a floor for bonding gripper last week. The areas were quite small with no windows for ventilation so was grinning from ear to ear afterwards. Problem is my throat has been aching since. Never had that occur before. The spray was a different brand than usual. Think ill be masking up the next time. Nasty stuff!
Go and see a doctor. The fumes are very dangerous and been linked to many health issues. QUOTE H+S data sheet - Vapours may cause headache, fatigue, dizziness and nausea. Prolonged inhalation of high concentrations may damage respiratory system.
This is why I hate using spray adhesive nasty stuff. I remember doing a repair job In a doctors with my dad and he used spray adhesive. There were 2 women sat right near us with young baby's and they moved because of the fumes I personally thought it was very wrong to use near others inc baby's but my dad just made some sarcastic comment about them and carried on
Been there and done that!! the customer was out of the room at the time. We flapped and patted all the flames out and found no damage to carpet or skirting. We opened the windows and doors to let some of the smell out and the customer walked straight in looked straight up to the top foot of his wallpaper and ceiling turned black and just said "What the **** have you done!!" costly job to us for a cheap foam back carpet! Lessons learned
