File:General Plastics (N.Z.) Ltd. Explosion And Fire (1965) (26271497746).jpg
A Commission of Enquiry was launched to investigate the causes of the disaster. Archives New Zealand holds the records of the enquiry, including submissions, evidence and the final report. The cover of the report and one of the images from the day of the explosion are presented here. The Commission summarised the cause of the explosion as being
“It is our opinion that very finely divided plastic dust accumulated under the floor of the ornamenting room, that this dust was simultaneously dispersed and ignited by an explosive electrical fault, and that the resulting dust explosion lifted the floor over a wide area and thereby injected relatively large amounts of dust and flame into the ornamenting room and ladies locker room above, thus causing a further dust explosion there. In the ornamenting room, combustible plastic dust and shavings lying in the rubbish bins were dispersed by the explosion, added to its severity, and served as a means of immediate ignition of the whole interior.”
Reference: ADQU 19489 W703 COM5 1/1 (R16446240)
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This image was originally posted to Flickr by Archives New Zealand at https://flickr.com/photos/35759981@N08/26271497746. It was reviewed on 8 September 2016 by FlickreviewR and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-sa-2.0. |