OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14317598
HELIX ASSOCIATES, INC.
NEWARK, DE·
Event description
EMPLOYEES SUFFERED MINOR CHEMICAL BURNS AFTER REACTOR BURST
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WERE FORMULATING AN ANTIMALARIAL DRUG, USING GLYCERIN, SULFU RIC ACID, ANISOL AND IODINE AS COMPONENTS. THE CHEMICALS WERE BEING MIXED IN A C LOSED REACTOR. AN UNCONTROLLED EXOTHERMIC REACTION OCCURRED, CAUSING THE REACTOR TO RUPTURE. A VAPOR CLOUD WAS RELEASED. BOTH EMPLOYEES SUFFERED MINOR CHEMICAL BURNS AND LEG INJURIES WHEN THEY EVACUATED THE PLANT.
Victims (3)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 40 M
- Nature of injury
- 4
- Part of body
- 2
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 6
- Occupation code
- 756
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 1363
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 40 M
- Nature of injury
- 4
- Part of body
- 2
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 6
- Occupation code
- 756
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 1363
- 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.