On January 2014, a whole family in Jerusalem was poisoned from phosphine after a section of their apartment was fumigated for pests, and some of the young children died from the poisoning.
Calcium phosphide is often used in naval flares, as in contact with water it liberates phosphine which self-ignites in contact with air; it is often used together with calcium carbide which releases acetylene.
Staudinger reaction, chemical reaction in which the combination of an azide with a phosphine or phosphite produces an iminophosphorane intermediate