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 #14307177

BURN,TORSO,HOSE,TANK

Event
BURN,TORSO,HOSE,TANK
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14307177
Report ID
213900

Event description

EMPLOYEE KILLED WHEN SCALDED BY TANK OF HOT WATER

Investigation abstract

At 8:20 a.m. on September 28, 1989, Employee #1 was removing a hose from a tank full of hot water heated to approximately 190 degrees Fahrenheit. The valve hand le, which identified the condition of the valve being either in the open or clos ed position, had been installed in the reverse position. Employee #1 disconnecte d the hose thinking that the valve was closed, when instead it was opened. He wa s splashed with hot water and received second and third degree burns on 65 perce nt of his body. He was hospitalized and died a month later, on October 28, 1989, from the injuries received.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 50 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    14
    Source
    41
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    11
    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.