Actually had a similar experience once.
I was managing a pretty good sized weld shop. Mig welders all around, and they use inert gas around the tips to facilitate proper welds. We had a huge tank of argon outside the building feeding gas to the 40 or so weld stations around the plant. The gas went through CPVC lines near the ceiling.
Well the night supervisor was supposed to shut off the argon at the tank. He forgot. The day supervisor was supposed to turn it on. He remembered. What he basically did was turn it up!
The CPVC pipe held for most of the day, then it went BOOM! No one was hurt, but plenty were pretty shaken. All the dust that had collected on those pipes 30' in the air, made the plant look like a London fog had rolled in.