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Ailing San Antonio construction workers suing grout manufacturer
After using a product billed as "simple," two San Antonio construction workers are out of
work due to poor health and suing the manufacturer. Now, the product has been recalled.
The two remodelers decided to try a product that promised to make sealing tile grout "simple."
The workers were overcome by fumes that sent both to the hospital.
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A nebulizer delivers the medication that helps David Koehler, 38, breathe. His friend Tommy Stevens
takes his through an inhaler. Both say they suffered severe lung damage after using an aerosol tile
sealant.
"Tommy best described it as someone was standing right on my chest. Very difficult to take
a full breath," Koehler said.
The men had just laid 600-square feet of tile in a Northeast Side home and started sealing the grout.
Within hours, the two men were being treated for chemical inhalation injury. Both spent several days
in the hospital and were suffering from dizziness, nausea, shortness of breath and vomiting.
And they are still suffering weeks later
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| Those batch numbers included in the recall: |
-A20985
-A30985
-A10995
-A20995
-A30995
-A11015
-A21015
-A31015
-A11025
-A21445
-A31445
-A11455
-A21455
-A31455
-A11465
-A21465 |
| U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission |
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"It's like cold air that just choked me up, and I went into a coughing fit that I could not stop,"
Stevens said.
"I got sick and in the process was unable to breathe and my wife told me I'd gone into convulsions,
which I don't remember, but she was on the phone with 911," Koehler said.
The directions on the can clearly say it's dangerous if inhaled — that proper ventilation is
needed.
Koehler and Stevens, with more than 30-years experience between them, say they were overcome, despite
following the directions.
The product's maker tells the I-Team it is aware of similar incidents, and has sent out a consumer
advisory.
The advisory says a small number of production batches made by a contract manufacturer are to blame.
Roanoke Companies Group, Inc., says the usually-pungent odor that warns users they're being exposed
was replaced by a less-repellent odor.
The company that makes the sealer says that as of Aug. 6, the entire offensive product had been removed
from the shelves of Home Depot nationwide.
However, it has been nearly three weeks and as of Friday afternoon, the I-Team was able to buy a can
of the recalled product at a store.
The batch number on the bottom gave it away.
The I-Team also discovered technical data sheets on the product that recommend using respirators, gloves
and safety goggles when handling Stand 'N Seal.
The remodelers point out that this information is not on the cans.
"We are hearing from potential clients all over the nation, and even we're surprised at the amount
of people being affected like this, being hospitalized for this," said attorney Scott Callahan.
Koehler and Stevens have an attorney and a lawsuit filed in a Bexar County district court.
They also have a warning for other remodelers.
"It says on the can, harmlessly evaporates from the tile surface. Maybe to the tile it's okay,
but this stuff has got to be pulled off the market," Koehler said.
The I-Team contacted Home Depot's consumer hotline, and they had no knowledge of any voluntary recall
of the grout sealer.
Joe Conger
KENS 5 Eyewitness News
August 26, 2005
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