104,543Records 70,659Employers 84,666Hospitalizations 27,563Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-09-30
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14332357

HEAD,EAR,BACK,EXPLOSION,CHEMICAL REACTION,CHEMICAL BURN,TANK,CHEMICAL

Event
HEAD,EAR,BACK,EXPLOSION,CHEMICAL REACTION,CHEMICAL BURN,TANK,CHEMICAL
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14332357
Report ID
418100

Event description

CHEMICAL STORAGE TANK EXPLOSION

Investigation abstract

ON JULY 10, 1985, ABOUT 250 GALLONS OF SODIUM CHLORITE WAS ACCIDENTALLY PUMPED I NTO A STORAGE TANK CONTAINING 6000 GALLONS OF ALUMINUM SULFATE. AT ABOUT 11:20 A M, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS ADDING A SMALL AMOUNT OF SODUIM CARBONATE TO THIS MIXTURE WHE N THE TANK EXPLODED. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS BLOWN APART BY THE EXPLOSION AND KILLED INS TANTLY. EMPLOYEE #2 RECEIVED 1ST AND 2ND DEGREE CHEMICAL BURNS ON HIS HEAD AND B ACK, AND WAS HOSPITALIZED. EMPLOYEES #3 AND #4 SUFFERED PUNCTURED EAR DRUMS.

Victims (4)

  1. #1 Fatality Age 50 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    14
    Source
    43
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    9
    Task assigned
    2
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 44 M

    Nature of injury
    4
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    14
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    9
    Task assigned
    2
  3. #3 Non-hospitalized injury Age 59 M

    Nature of injury
    14
    Part of body
    6
    Event type
    14
    Source
    47
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    9
    Task assigned
    2
  4. #4 Non-hospitalized injury Age 53 M

    Nature of injury
    14
    Part of body
    6
    Event type
    14
    Source
    47
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    9
    Task assigned
    2

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.