OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14305304
BURN,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,WORK RULES,XYLENE,PAINT,EXPLOSION,BONDING,SMOKING
Event description
EXPLOSION - FLAMMABLE VAPORS IGNITED BY CIGARETTE
Investigation abstract
AN EMPLOYEE WAS TRANSFERRING FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS FROM A DRUM OF XYLENE AND A DRUM OF PAINT (FLASH POINT: 35 TO 45 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT) INTO 5-GALLON CONTAINERS. HE WAS PERFORMING THIS TASK IN A LARGE DOOR OPENING IN A 25-FOOT-BY-32-FOOT ROOM. THE AMBIENT TEMPERATURE IN THE ROOM WAS 70 TO 73 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. THE CONTAIN ERS WERE NOT BONDED; A SELF-CLOSING FAUCET WAS NOT USED; AND THE EMPLOYEE WAS SM OKING. AS HE PUT HIS CIGARETTE OUT, THE PAINT DRUM EXPLODED, FOLLOWED BY THE XYL ENE DRUM. THE EMPLOYEE SUFFERED SECOND AND THIRD DEGREE BURNS OVER 90 TO 95 PERC ENT OF HIS BODY. HE DIED OF HIS INJURIES.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 23 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 869
- Human factor
- 18
- Environmental factor
- 10
- Hazardous substance
- 2590
- 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.