OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14346464
ECI DIVISION OF E-SYSTEMS INC.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL·
Event description
CHEMICAL REACTION CAUSED DRUM TO EXPLODE, EMPLOYEES INJURED
Investigation abstract
THE EMPLOYEES WERE POURING CHEMICAL WASTE FROM A SMALL CONTAINER INTO A LARGER D RUM FOR SUBSEQUENT DISPOSAL. THE DRUM CONTAINED SILVER CYANDIDE. THE SMALLER CON TAINER HELD HYDROGEN PEROXIDE. AS THE TWO CHEMICALS WERE MIXED, THE DRUM'S INTER NAL PRESSURE RAPIDLY ROSE. THE DRUM RUPTURED, SPLASHING ITS CONTENTS ON EMPLOYEE S #1 AND #2. THEY WERE HOSPITALIZED WITH CHEMICAL BURNS. UP TO 48 OTHER PERSONS, INCLUDING COMPANY EMPLOYEES, TRANSIENTS AND RESCUE WORKERS WERE TAKEN TO THE HO SPITAL FOR OBSERVATION DUE TO POSSIBLE EXPOSURE TO TOXIC SMOKE AND FUMES FROM TH E EXPLOSION. THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT WAS THE MISLABELLING OF THE HYDRO GEN PEROXIDE CONTAINER.
Victims (3)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 21 M
- Nature of injury
- 4
- Part of body
- 16
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 0790
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 59 M
- Nature of injury
- 4
- Part of body
- 12
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 0790
- 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.