A toilet exploded at the Pittsburgh City-County Building earlier this week, leaving a city employee with a gash on his leg from porcelain shards.

The blast happened on Monday, injuring a 65-year-old man who works for the city. The man has not yet been publicly identified.

“A city employee was injured when a plumbing fixture failed,” Cydney Cooper, interim communications director for Mayor Ed Gainey’s office, told KDKA-AM. She said the victim walked himself to an ambulance and was treated for his minor injury.

The city has not said what caused the failure. Plumber Ken Baker with Greater Pittsburgh Plumbing Heating and Cooling told KDKA-AM that “the only thing I can think that happened was they possibly had frozen pipes, air got into the line.”

One city official says the incident is indicative of the squalor at various city properties.

“We’re not taking care of our own house,” Councilmember Anthony Coghill, District 4 Democrat, told WPXI-TV.

Mr. Coghill is himself a contractor, and told WPXI-TV that he notices “every crooked shutter and every dripping faucet, I’m afraid to do an in-depth look at all of our facilities because I’m afraid of what I would find.”

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.