OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14339667
BURN,FIRE,CONSTRUCTION,RUPTURE,EXPLOSION,HIGH TEMPERATURE
Event description
EXPLOSION OF VAPORS IN MELTING KETTLE
Investigation abstract
A double boiler type melting kettle was being used to melt asphalt-based waterpr ompound to flooring at the time of the explosion. oofing compound on the seventh floor of a hospital addition. Vent openings in th e melting kettle oil jacket were plugged by cap fittings and crystalline asphalt ic material. When heat was applied to the oil jacket the jacket ruptured, presum ably resulting in a boiling liquid evaporating vapor explosion. Employees # 1 th rough #3, who were within the fireball, were burned. They were hospitalized for their injuries. Employee #4 may have been burned by hot material thrown outside the main flame. Employee # 1 was the job project manager, supervising employee # 3 at the time of the accident. Employees #2 and #4 were applying waterproofing c
Victims (4)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 36 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 554
- Human factor
- 12
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 33 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 595
- Human factor
- 12
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#3 Hospitalized Age 25 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 567
- Human factor
- 12
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#4 Non-hospitalized injury Age 20 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 17
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 595
- Human factor
- 12
- Environmental factor
- 7
- 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.