OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14204747
WEYERHAEUSER CO CONTAINERBOARD DIVISION
SPRINGFIELD, OR·
Event description
EMPLOYEES BURNED WHEN HOT WATER AND CHIPS RELEASED FROM BOOT
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 NOTICED THAT THE BOOT ON DIGESTER NUMBER 7 HAD DISTENDED AND WAS LEAKING WATER. THEY FEARED THAT THE BOOT MIGHT COME LOOSE, DUMP HOT WATER A ND CHIPS, AND POSSIBLY INJURE A PASSERBY. THEY DECIDED TO TRY TO RELIEVE PRESSUR E IN THE CHUTE BY OPENING THE EAST DOOR. EMPLOYEE #1 ATTEMPTED TO HOLD THE DOOR SHUT, USING A LONG STICK, WHILE EMPLOYEE TAPPED THE HANDLE UP. THE PRESSURE IN T HE CHUTE FORCED THE DOOR OPEN VIOLENTLY, THROWING EMPLOYEE #2 AGAINST DIGESTOR N UMBER 6, APPROXIMATELY 20 FEET AWAY. BOTH EMPLOYEES WERE BURNED OVER 40% TO 70% OF THEIR BODIES BY THE HOT WATER AND CHIPS. BOTHH EMPLOYEES WERE AWARE THAT A "C HUTE COOK" WAS HAPPENING, AND THAT THE CHUTE WAS FULL OF WATER AND CHIPS.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 43 M
- Nature of injury
- 4
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 41
- Occupation code
- 779
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 8
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 37 M
- Nature of injury
- 4
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 41
- Occupation code
- 779
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 8
- Task assigned
- 1
Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.