In the car wash industry construction is vitally important. Car Washes are a very harsh environment for building materials, as they are generally constantly moist, cause rust, and the chemicals use are quite reactive causing corrosion. Over time this could lead to collapse. In fact, one car wash recently had a concrete overhead structure supported by lots of steel come crashing down on customer’s cars and almost on top of workers, who saw what was happening and ran out.
This is a warning to all car wash owners that just because you have built a great looking car wash, does not mean it will last 20-years without special consideration to coatings and materials. It is also wise, if not mandatory to continually inspect your facility and make sure it is holding up over the years. In the case of the California Car Wash where the overhead structure came down, no one was injured or killed.
In this case, one man was inside his car when the building structure came down, and was okay luckily. The employees were also saved, but had the employees not been proactive in getting the heck out of there, they could have been crushed to death. The light-weight concrete roof was a reminder of just how critical inspections are. And this could not have come at a worse time for the Sunset Car Wash in Hollywood, CA because the State of California has been coming down hard on carwashes due to the violations throughout the state on OSHA Safety Standards.
The TV Media announced; “The Department of Building and Safety closed the car wash as crews assessed the safety of the site,” which is about the worst PR a car wash could get short of a car wash owner fondling children of customers. Let this be a lesson to all car wash owners to pay more attention to building materials and routine or periodic inspections.