On Tuesday the fifth of October 1916 something terrible happened. The incident occured in room 42 which was a fusing room. In room 42 over 105 women and girls worked screwing the lids on to the shell. At 10:27 pm an explosion shook the building. It killed 23 women immediately, some were so badly damaged they were only recognisable by their identity tags. A further 12 women died of their injuries. This wasn't the only explosion at the Barnbow factory. Another explosion on the 27th of march 1917 and killed three women while another on the 31st of march killed two men.