OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14262620
LEAK,GASKET,FIRE,RUPTURE,CHEMICAL
Event description
ETHYLENE OXIDE FIRE AT CHEMICAL PLANT
Investigation abstract
ON APRIL 30, 1985, AT APPROXIMATELY 6 AM, AN ADT ALARM SOUNDED IN THE CONTROL RO ULATING COVER ON THE LINE IT MAY HAVE IGNITED. RUST ON THE LINE WAY ALSO HAVE BE EN A CATALYST IN IGNITING THE ETHYLENE OXIDE. OM. THE CHEMICAL TECHNICAN ON DUTY CHECKED THE PRESSURE IN THE CONTROL CONTROL R OOM. IT WAS ALL RIGHT. HE THEN WENT DOWNSTAIRS TO CHECK THE ADT ALARM SYSTEM. IT WAS FUNCTIONING PROPERLY. AS HE WENT BACK UP THE STAIRS HE SAW THE FIRE ON THE LINE FROM THE ETHYLENE OXIDE STORAGE TANK. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT WAS NOTIFIED. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT HAD THREE RAIL CARS MOVED BECAUSE OF THEIR PROXIMITY TO THE FIR E. THE OUTLET FROM THE ETHYLENE OXIDE TANK WAS TURNED OFF. THE FIRE BURNED DOWN AND WAS EXTINGUISHED. THE LEAK WAS CAUSED BY A RUPTURED FLANGE GASKET IN THE ETH YLENE OXIDE LINE. WHEN THE ETHYLENE OXIDE CAME INTO CONTACT WITH THE PLASTIC INS
Victim
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#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.