OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14251649
LOADING,TANK TRUCK,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,WORK RULES,EXPLOSION,CHEMICAL
Event description
2 EMPLOYEES INJURED WHEN TANKER TRUCK EXPLODED
Investigation abstract
AT APPROXIMATELY 3 PM ON SEPTEMBER 23, 1987, EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WERE LOADING A AKE THE RETAINS, THEY WOULD HAVE HAD TO MOVE THE FILL PIPES TO WHERE THE PIPES W OULD NOT HAVE RESTED AGAINST THE SIDE OF THE TANK. OTHERWISE, A FULL FREE FALL T HE INTERNAL HEIGHT OF THE TRAILER WOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED. THE TRAILER WAS GROUN DED. THE SUPERVISOR SAW THEM GROUND IT, AND THERE IS OTHER EVIDENCE THAT THE TRA ILER WAS GROUNDED. THERE WAS A SHUT-OFF ON THE HOSE PORTION OF THE FILL LINE, BU T IT WOULD NOT HAVE SHUT OFF AUTOMATICALLY. THE SYSTEM WAS SUPPOSED TO AUTOMATIC ALLY SHUT OFF WHEN A SPRINKLER IS ACTIVATED, BUT SINCE THE LOADING WAS BEING DON E OUTSIDE THERE WAS NO SPRINKLER SYSTEM AT THE LOADING SITE. 1966 GREAT DANE TANKER TRAILER WITH 2,000 GALLONS OF LACQUER, 1,000 GALLONS OF S EALER AND 1,000 GALLONS OF STAIN RETARDER. THE EMPLOYEES WERE PUMPING ALL THREE MATERIALS INTO THE TANKER SIMULTANEOUSLY. THEY WERE BOTH EITHER ON TOP OF, OR BE HIND, THE TANKER WHEN AN EXPLOSION OCCURRED. ONE OF THE EMPLOYEES WAS ALLEGEDLY TAKING A RETAIN SAMPLE FROM SOME OF THE MATERIAL THAT WAS BEING LOADED. FROM THE DESCRIPTION GIVEN BY WITNESSES IT IS PROBABLE THAT THE EXPLOSION OCCURRED IN TH E MIDDLE (SEALER) OR REAR (GLAZE RETARDER) SECTIONS OF THE TRAILER. THE TANKER W AS BEING TOP LOADED IN ALL THREE SECTIONS. IN ORDER FOR EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 TO T
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 29 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 1
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 10
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 33 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 1
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 10
- 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.