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| FIRE PROTECTION COMMENTS |
Tyco/Grinnell |
| Issue No.
8 |
June
2001 |
Fire
Safety or Fire Hazard? |
 FPC
p e r i o d i c a l |
A Public Service Provided By:
LASER, INC. (Legal And Safety
Employer Research) |
|
Grinnell
Makes and Supplies Pipes with Pin Holes – Big, Watery Mess at Ohio
Bank
Defective fire suppression system ruins high profile opportunity for
Ohio contractor who hired Grinnell |
| Pinholes in fire
suppression system pipes manufactured and supplied by Grinnell Fire
Protection Systems led to costly delays and reinstallation of a fire
protection system in a regional bank, according to the company that
installed the pipe and had to sue Grinnell to settle the entire mess.
When Empire Fire Services Inc., a small fire protection company out
of Westerville, Ohio, purchased 3" and 4" galvanized schedule
#10 piping from Grinnell, it did not expect the pipe installed
throughout the financial institution to leak. (neither did the customer,
Fifth Third Bank, who had given Empire Fire Services Inc. a high-profile
contract to make the installation of the critical fire suppression
equipment).
Before it was over, Fifth Third Bank was searching for another
contractor and Empire Fire Services had to sue Grinnell Fire Protection
Systems for the costs of tearing out the bad pipe, testing it to
determine there were pinholes throughout, buying new pipe in good
condition, and reinstalling the pipe.
After a watery mess led to the realization that it had not gotten its
money’s worth, Fifth Third Bank sought bids from an Empire Fire
Service Inc. competitor. To satisfy the frustrated customer, Empire had
to spend an additional $21,000 for good pipe and labor to reinstall the
fire suppression system and another $800 to hire the Westerville Police
and Fire Department for security while the bank was exposed to vandals
and thieves.
Just as it moved quickly in the face of disaster to satisfy its
customer, Empire Fire Services was hoping for a similar response from
Grinnell. Instead of acknowledging it gave Empire defective pipe,
however, Grinnell refused to make Empire Fire Services whole for its
expensive, embarrassing contract with Fifth Third Bank.
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A high
profile contract turned to disaster when Empire Fire Service hired
Grinnell as a sub-contractor to make and supply pipe for its fire
system. |
Before it fixed blame on anyone, Empire Fire Services sought
professional verification of Grinnell’s defective manufacturing
practices. When it verified Grinnell’s role in producing the pinholed
pipe, it acted with great deliberation to allow Grinnell every
opportunity to settle the matter by making Empire Fire Services whole
for its material and labor losses.
According to a lawsuit filed against Grinnell Fire Protection Systems
and its parent company Grinnell Corporation of Cleveland, the NRC
Engineering firm inspected the pipe supplied by Grinnell. "The
inspection and testing of the pipe concluded that the pipe was riddled
with pinholes and that the pipe was defective," the lawsuit stated.
"Empire notified (Grinnell) of the defective pipes, providing
(Grinnell) with notice of the availability of the engineer’s
inspection report, samples of the pipe and invoice numbers verifying
that said pipe was...manufactured by (Grinnell)," the lawsuit
states.
When Grinnell refused to respond to Empire’s request to be
reimbursed, Empire sued Grinnell for negligence and breach of warranty. |
|
blackened
fish: grinnell's system Fails in
Long John Silver's restaurant |
| When you spend a lot of money on a fire
suppression system, you expect it to work.
When it doesn't, not only is there a big mess in your business, but
your business gets even messier because of lawsuits, loss of revenue and
that unpleasant smell of smoke from an industrial fire.
A fire in Long John Silver’s fish and chips restaurant in Marion
County led to a negligence lawsuit against Grinnell Corporation after its
fire extinguishing system failed to prevent the spread of a grease fire.
|
Long
John Silver's bought a system from Grinnell that failed to put out
the fire, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage and lost
business. |
After suffering tens of thousands of dollars in damage from a fire that
began in a fryer vat, the restaurant sued Grinnell, claiming that
"the fire extinguishing system...was defective in that they failed to
extinguish or prevent the spread of the fire."
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, filed August 23, 2000 in Marion County
Superior Court, claim they suffered damages because Grinnell participated
in manufacturing and installing a defective fire extinguishing system.
"The fire extinguishing system was sold, distributed, marketed,
advertised, promoted, distributed and/or placed into the stream of
commerce...in a defective condition which was unreasonably dangerous to
user or consumers," the lawsuit alleged.
"The fire extinguishing system was defective in that it was not
made safe for normal use, and failed to provide adequate warnings or
precautions as to its possible failure to adequately extinguish and/or
prevent the spread of a fire," the lawsuit continued. |
  
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