OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14262638
FLAMMABLE VAPORS,STORAGE TANK,EXPLOSION,CONCUSSION,TANK,BURN,WELDING
Event description
STORAGE TANK EXPLODED, KILLING NEARBY EMPLOYEES
Investigation abstract
ON JULY 18, 1985, AT APPROXIMATELY 2 PM, A MAINTENANCE MECHANIC, HIS HELPER AND AT WAS BLOWN ONTO HIS BODY BY THE EXPLOSION. A CRANE OPERATOR WERE INSTALLING CATWALKS ON THE PRODUCT AND STORAGE TANKS IN TH E TANK FARM. TANK 3A COULD NOT BE BLANKED WITH A METAL DISK, SO A PLASTIC DRUM L INER WAS PLACED OVER THE VENT AND OVERFLOW PIPE. THERE HAD BEEN SOME OXY-ACETYLE NE CUTTING ON THE CATWALK IN THE VICINITY OF THE PLASTIC BAG OVER THE VENT AND O VERFLOW PIPE. SOMEHOW THE METHANYL VAPORS FROM TANK 3A WERE IGNITED. THE FIRE SP READ TO THE TANK, CAUSING THE ENTIRE TANK TO EXPLODE. THE CONCUSSION FROM THE EX PLOSION KILLED THE MAINTENANCE MECHANIC AND HELPER THAT WERE ON THE TANK CATWALK . THE CRANE OPERATOR DIED FROM BURNS RECEIVED FROM THE BURNING PHENOLIC RESIN TH
Victims (4)
-
#1 Fatality Age 26 M
- Nature of injury
- 6
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 503
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1660
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Fatality Age 33 M
- Nature of injury
- 6
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 503
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1660
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#3 Fatality Age 31 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 849
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1660
- 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.