Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025
105,991Records 70,589Employers 85,836Hospitalizations 27,959Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-11-30

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14240865

CJR CONTRACTORS, INC

Event
HYDROGEN SULFIDE, WORK RULES, CONSTRUCTION, TRENCH, OIL LINE, RUPTURE, SCBA, PIPELINE, TOXIC FUMES, OVEREXPOSURE
NAICS
000000
Inspection type
Accident-driven
Activity number
#103400354
Employer profile
CJR CONTRACTORS, INC
Summary number
14240865
Report ID
627400

Event description

One killed, one injured when oil well flowline ruptures

Investigation abstract

Employee #1 was standing in a 49 in. deep by 6 to 7 ft wide excavation. A 48 in. he excavation and collapsed. Employee #2 attempted to rescue him without wearing SCBA. When he realized that he was being overcome, he managed to exit the ditch and ran upwind before fainting. Employee #2 recovered without assistance, but E mployee #1 could not be revived. In an oil field, employees should not be in a t rench or excavation while a backhoe is being operated. They should be upwind and out of range of the boom to avoid danger from ruptured lines. deep by 3 ft wide trench was being dug, extending out from the excavation, and Employee #1 was about 7 to 8 ft from an oil well flowline that ran diagonally ac ross the new trench. Employee #2, who was operating a Case 580E backhoe, was att empting to remove a 10 in. by 18 in. rock that weighed between 20 and 30 lb from the vicinity of the flowline. Either falling rocks or the backhoe bucket ruptur ed the Centron fiberglass epoxy line pipe, CEN-450, and mixed crude oil/sour gas (87,000 PPM hydrogen sulfide) under 80 psi spewed out, striking Employee #1. In stead of climbing out of the trench in an upwind direction, he ran downwind to t

Victims (2)

  1. #1 Fatality Age 25 Male

    Nature of injury
    Asphyxia (2)
    Part of body
    LUNG (28)
    Accident type
    INHALATION (8)
    Source of injury
    CHEM LIQUIDS/VAPORS (9)
    Occupation
    Occupation not reported (999)
    Human factor
    MISJUDGMENT, HAZ. SITUATION (1)
    Environmental factor
    GAS/VAPOR/MIST/FUME/SMOKE/DUST (7)
    Hazardous substance
    1480
    Task assigned
    Task regularly assigned (1)
  2. #2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 28 Male

    Nature of injury
    Asphyxia (2)
    Part of body
    LUNG (28)
    Accident type
    INHALATION (8)
    Source of injury
    CHEM LIQUIDS/VAPORS (9)
    Occupation
    Occupation not reported (999)
    Human factor
    MISJUDGMENT, HAZ. SITUATION (1)
    Environmental factor
    GAS/VAPOR/MIST/FUME/SMOKE/DUST (7)
    Hazardous substance
    1480
    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.