OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14252787
BURN,AMMONIA,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,FIRE,GAS LEAK,ARM,FACE
Event description
EMPLOYEES BURNED IN AMMONIA FLASH FIRE
Investigation abstract
JUST BEFORE 7 AM ON MAY 30, 1986, A HEAD GASKET BLEW OUT ON THE NUMBER TWO COMPR DEGREE BURNS TO HIS FACE AND ARMS. THE FIRE RESULTED FROM THE IGNITION (BY AN UN KNOWN SOURCE) OF THE LEAKING AMMONIA GAS. ESSOR IN THE OLD ENGINE ROOM. EMPLOYEE #2 SAW VAPORS ENTERING THE NEW ENGINE ROO M FROM THE OLD ENGINE ROOM. HE ATTEMPTED TO ENTER THE OLD ENGINE ROOM TO TURN OF F THE BREAKERS, BUT THE AMMONIA SMELL WAS TOO STRONG. HE WENT BACK OUTSIDE, TURN ED OFF THE COMPRESSOR CONTROL CIRCUIT AND CLOSED THE AMMONIA KING VALVE. HE AND EMPLOYEE #1 OBTAINED GAS MASKS AND WALKED TO THE DOORWAY OF THE OLD ENGINE ROOM. AS THEY WERE STANDING AT THE DOOR, THE EMPLOYEES HEARD A ROAR AND SAW A FLASH. BOTH EMPLOYEES WALKED OUTSIDE, WHERE THEY WERE HOSED OFF. EMPLOYEE #1 RECEIVED F IRST DEGREE BURNS TO HIS TEMPLES. EMPLOYEE #2 RECEIVED FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD
Victims (2)
-
#1 Non-hospitalized injury Age 31 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 9
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 503
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0170
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 56 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 503
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0170
- 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.