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The Grover Shoe Factory disaster was an industrial explosion, building collapse and fire that killed 58 people and injured 150 when it leveled the R. B. Grover shoe factory in Brockton, Massachusetts on March 20, 1905. Following a boiler explosion, the four-story wooden building collapsed and the ruins burst into flames, incinerating workers trapped in the wreckage. The Grover disaster brought new attention to industrial safety and led to stringent safety laws and a national code governing the safe operation of steam boilers. ==The factory== The R. B. Grover shoe factory was big, but not the biggest in Brockton, a town that had 35,000 shoe workers. The wooden building, shaped like a letter ''E'', occupied half a city block at the corner of Main and Calmar Streets.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= The R. B. Grover & Company Shoe Factory Boiler Explosion (photos) )〕 Grover made the popular Emerson brand shoe, and business had been good enough to add a fourth floor. The factory was heated using steam radiators, with the steam being produced by coal-fired steel boilers installed in a brick boiler house attached to the wooden factory as the crossbar of the ''E''. When the fourth floor was added, the original boiler was replaced by a larger one and the old boiler, long and six feet in diametre, was left in place as a backup. Since the new boiler could generally meet the factory's demands on its own, the old one was seldom used; and when used, was used reluctantly. Grover's chief engineer David Rockwell, who had a first-class engineer's license and twelve years experience, did not trust it.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Grover Shoe Factory disaster」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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