Paint Plant Worker Awarded $900,000 for Injuries after Chemical Explosion

By EinsteinCMS Administrator

Published on December 07, 2007

The settlement was reached shortly after the jury was shown photographs of the man's injuries.

According to testimony at the trial, which occurred in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, Thomas Schissel was working as a third-shift worker at a Milwaukee paint manufacturing plant owned by PPG Industries when the explosion occurred.

His attorneys said that when the incident happened, he was straddling a container filled with paint while attempting to empty an anti-static bag containing a flammable chemical by shaking it, allegedly causing a spark of static electricity that directly led the chemical to explode.

According to Schissel’s lawsuit, Everlight USA, the maker of Eversorb, the bag in question, mislead PPG Industries when it sold the bags to PPG in 2003. A representative of Everlight allegedly sent an email to PPG claiming that a check with the bags’ Taiwan manufacturer confirmed that the bags were safe and anti-static.

After the accident, the bags were independently analyzed by two laboratories and were found not to be anti-static. Lawyers for Everlight USA argued that there could have been deficiencies with the flame-retardant suit that Schissel was wearing at the time of the accident and with the chemical safety standards that PPG follows.

Comment on this article →