A City of Pittsburgh employee was hurt on Monday after a toilet reportedly failed and, reportedly, exploded.
Cydney Cooper, Interim Communications Director for the Mayor’s Office says “A City employee was injured when a plumbing fixture failed."
The employee was able to walk to an ambulance outside for treatment and “is currently recovering from minor, non-life-threatening injuries and is expected to be released from the hospital [Monday]."
To protect the privacy of the employee, the City says no other information will be provided at this time.
Plumber Ken Baker from Greater Pittsburgh Plumbing Heating and Cooling tells KDKA Radio’s Marty Griffin that “the only thing I can think that happened was they possibly had frozen pipes, air got into the line.”
Baker says it isn’t out of the ordinary for a toilet to “explode” but it rarely happens in residential buildings and is more common in commercial buildings because their toilets work off pressure from and incoming line, not a tank in the back.
An official reason for the failure has not been given.