OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14236780
RESPIRATORY,WORK RULES,INHALATION,CHLORINE,EXPLOSION,CHEMICAL REACTION
Event description
4 EMPLOYEES EXPOSED TO CHLORINE GAS
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEES #1 THROUGH #4 WERE DECOMMISSIONING AN ELECTROPLATING PRODUCTION LINE. THE ACIDS AND CAUSTIC STRIPPING SOLUTIONS WERE BEING TRANSFERRED TO 55 GALLON DR UMS FOR DISPOSAL. ENDPLATE AD482, CONTAINING SULFURIC ACID AND AMMONIUM CHLORIDE , WAS DRAINED INTO A RECENTLY WASHED 55 GALLON DRUM. THE ENDPLATE AD482 REACTED WITH RESIDUAL WATER, CREATING EXCESSIVE HEAT AND PRESSURE. THE REACTION RELEASED CHLORINE GAS FROM THE SOLUTION AND THE RESULTING PRESSURE CAUSED THE SEALED DRU M TO EXPLODE.
Victims (5)
-
#1 Non-hospitalized injury Age 27 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 224
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 34 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 224
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#3 Non-hospitalized injury Age 26 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 224
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#4 Non-hospitalized injury Age 37 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 224
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#981 Degree 0 Age 0
- Nature of injury
- 0
- Part of body
- 0
- Event type
- 0
- Source
- 0
- Occupation code
- 0
- Human factor
- 0
- Environmental factor
- 0
- Task assigned
- 0
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.