OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #1002443
CLOW VALVE COMPANY
OSKALOOSA, IA·
Event description
EMPLOYEE DIED FROM MOLTEN BRASS BURNS
Investigation abstract
On May 9, 1989, Employee #1 was operating a brass furnace melting scrap brass ri he other was a fault or crack in the silica carbide lining of the crucible that held the brass. The crucible was manufactured by the Ferro Corporation and the f urnace by Asea Brown-Boveri Incorporated. ngs. Employee #1 had just poured approximately 500 pounds of brass into the pour er ladle and was apparently in position in front of the furnace to begin chargin g (adding more scrap brass) to the molten bath, when approximately 800-1000 poun ds of molten brass sprayed out onto Employee #1 and area surrounding the furnace . Employee #1 died from severe burn injuries despite wearing face protection and heat resistant gloves. It had not been conclusively determined what actually ca used the brass to spray out of the furnace but two possibilities were considered . One was the introduction of wet or contaminated brass to the molten bath and t
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 32 Male
- Nature of injury
- Burn/Scald(Heat) (5)
- Part of body
- MULTIPLE (19)
- Accident type
- OTHER (14)
- Source of injury
- FIRE/SMOKE (16)
- Occupation
- Furnace, kiln and oven operators (766)
- Human factor
- INSUF/LACK/PROTCV WRK CLTHG/EQUIP (20)
- Environmental factor
- FLAMMABLE LIQ/SOLID EXPOSURE (10)
- Task assigned
- Task regularly assigned (1)
Labels are OSHA's own, from the code dictionary published with the accident-investigation file. The raw code is shown beside each one so this page can be reconciled against OSHA's bulk data. OSHA notes that nature of injury, part of body, source of injury and accident type in this file are not coded to the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System, and that the occupation titles are not standardised — so these values are not directly comparable with the OIICS-coded severe injury reports.