OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14215024
LOBECO PRODUCTS INC.
LOBECO, SC·
Event description
CHEMICAL REACTION CAUSED REACTOR VESSEL TO EXPLODE
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 WAS OPERATING A CHEMICAL REACTOR USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF A HERBIC IDE INTERMEDIATE DESIGNATED AS A.D.D. AN EXPLOSION OCCURRED AFTER A LENGHTY SOLV ENT REMOVAL PROCEDURE IN WHICH THE DESIRED FREEZE POINT COULD NOT BE REACHED. TH E EMPLOYEE WAS TOLD A FEW MINUTES BEFORE THE EXPLOSIION TO SHUT DOWN AND COOL TH E REACTOR. THE STAGE OF THE SHUT-DOWN, AND HIS PHYSICAL LOCATION AT THE TIME OF THE EXPLOSION ARE NOT KNOWN. EMPLOYEE #1'S LEGS WERE BLOWN OFF. HE IS STILL IN A COMATOSE STATE. THE REACTOR WAS NOT EQUIPPED WITH AUTOMATIC CONTROLS. THE CASUA L FACTOR IS BELIEVED TO BE THE OVERHEATING OF THE MATERIAL IN THE REACTOR TO THE POINT WHERE IT BEGAN A SELF-SUSTAINING THERMAL DECOMPOSITION.
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 52 M
- Nature of injury
- 1
- Part of body
- 16
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 6
- Occupation code
- 699
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 5
- Hazardous substance
- 8880
- 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.