OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14347330
BURN,WELDER,CORROSIVE,CHEMICAL BURN,SPILL,CHEMICAL
Event description
BURNED BY SPILLED "BLACK LIQUOR"
Investigation abstract
ON OCTOBER 31, 1986, AT APPROXIMATELY 10:45 AM, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS ARC WELDING AT T HE SIDE OF A VAT CONTAINING A HOT (185 DEGREES TO 190 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT) AND CO RROSIVE (12.5 TO 13 PH) MIXTURE OF SODIUM HYDROXIDE, SODIUM SULFIDE AND WOOD MAT ERIALS KNOWN AS "BLACK LIQUOR". WHILE EMPLOYEE #1 WAS LYING ON HIS SIDE, WELDING AT THE SIDE OF THE VAT, THE "BLACK LIQUOR" OVERFLOWED AND COVERED EMPLOYEE #1, WHO WAS WEARING ONLY PPE REQUIRED FOR WELDING OPERATIONS. ALTHOUGH EMPLOYEE #1 W AS HELPED TO AN EMERGENCY SHOWER IMMEDIATELY, HE SUSTAINED EXTENSIVE THERMAL AND CHEMICAL BURNS. HE WAS DECLARED BRAIN DEAD AT 2 PM ON DECEMBER 22, 1986, AS A R ESULT OF A BRAIN INFECTION COMPLICATION.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 36 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 2260
- 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.