105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14301352

LEAK,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,NATURAL GAS,EXPLOSION,SMOKING

Event
LEAK,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,NATURAL GAS,EXPLOSION,SMOKING
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14301352
Report ID
653510

Event description

NATURAL GAS EXPLODED IN AUTO PARTS STORE

Investigation abstract

THE PARTS STORE STAFF WERE JUST ARIVING FOR WORK. EMPLOYEE #1 WENT BEHIND THE CO UNTER TO DRINK SOME COFFEE AND SMOKE A CIGARETTE. EMPLOYEES #2 AND #3 WERE STAND ING IN FRONT OF THE COUNTER, IN THE LOBBY AREA, OF THE NEW PARTS STORE. THEY STA TED THAT A CIRCLE OF FIRE ENGULFED THEM. EMPLOYEES #2 AND #3 WERE BLOWN OUT THE FRONT DOOR. THE ENTIRE BUILDING WAS DEMOLISHED BY THE BLAST. LATER EXAMINATION A ND INTERVIEWS SHOWED THAT GAS HAD BEEN TURNED ON TO THE NEW PARTS STORE THE PREV IOUS EVENING, EVEN THOUGH THE GAS LINES HAD NOT YET BEEN CONNECTED TO THE NEW GA S HEATERS. THE GAS HAD APPARENTLY BEEN ERRONEOUSLY TURNED ON DURING MODIFICATION WORK GOING ON IN THE MAIN AUTOMOTIVE SALES BUILDING.

Victims (3)

  1. #1 Fatality Age 45 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    14
    Source
    16
    Occupation code
    365
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    18
    Hazardous substance
    1640
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 22 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    14
    Source
    16
    Occupation code
    365
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    18
    Hazardous substance
    1640
    Task assigned
    1
  3. #3 Hospitalized Age 34 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    14
    Source
    16
    Occupation code
    365
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    18
    Hazardous substance
    1640
    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.