
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 1, 1995                   TAG: 9508010069
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: F.J. GALLAGHER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WORKER BLAMES LABEL FOR BLAST

A Salem worker, injured when an industrial adhesive he was using exploded, blamed the chemical's inadequate labeling for the explosion that sent him and a co-worker to the hospital with severe burns.

"The label said `flammable,''' William Cadd said Monday in testimony before U.S. District Court Judge Jackson Kiser, ``but a lot of stuff you find around the house is flammable. My wife's hairspray is flammable. I didn't know a whole lot about those vapors.''

Cadd's statements came during a hearing stemming from his lawsuit against the adhesive's manufacturer, United Technologies of Hartford, Conn. The suit charges the company with negligence and breach of warranty in connection with an explosion and flash fire that occurred at the Shenandoah Industrial Rubber Co. in Salem on Dec. 5, 1990. According to court documents, Cadd and a co-worker, Harry Young, were applying the adhesive "Topcoat" to the interior of a large steel tank manufactured by Shenandoah when the fire occurred.

The initial request for judgment filed by Cadd's lawyers sought $1 million in damages in addition to compensation for lost wages and medical and legal costs. The request was amended, increasing his demand to $5 million, said his lawyer, James Joyce.

Taking the stand for the first time since the trial began Wednesday, Cadd said he had been lining tanks for 10 years, always taking the same precautions, which he thought were adequate and in compliance with label warnings.

Those measures, he said, included activating a fan mounted near the ceiling and partially opening the garage bay door to evacuate the adhesive's noxious fumes.

Approximately 10 minutes after he entered the tank, he said, the vapors ignited, unleashing a fireball that swept through the enclosure.

"The last thing I remember, I was in the ambulance," Cadd said.

In cross-examination, attorneys for United Technologies maintained that Cadd was negligent with the dangerous chemicals as a result of not having read the labeling.

The company's lawyers have not yet presented their defense of the charges.

by CNB