OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14349534
CHEST,HEART,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,WORK RULES,DRUM,TORCH,EXPLOSION,STRUCK BY,FLYING OBJECT,CUTTING AND BURNING
Event description
EMPLOYEE KILLED WHEN HE HEATED DRUM WITH FLAMMABLE VAPORS
Investigation abstract
ON MAY 15, 1988, EMPLOYEE #1 REPORTED TO WORK AT 3:45 PM AND BEGAN CLEANING UP A HO THEN LAID THE LIT TORCH ON THE LID OF A DRUM. THE DRUM EXPLODED, THROWING THE TORCH VIOLENTLY OUTWARD. THE TORCH STRUCK EMPLOYEE #1 IN THE CHEST BELOW THE HE ART, INFLICTING A DEEP WOUND. EMPLOYEE #1 DIED A SHORT TIME LATER AT THE HOSPITA L. ROUND THE SHOT BLASTER AND BAG HOUSE. ABOUT AN HOUR LATER HE STARTED TO CLEAN UP IN THE SHOP AREA. IN THE SHOP HE WOULD PICK UP PAPER, SCRAP METAL, WELDING RODS AND SLAG FROM THE WORK AREAS AND PLACE THE TRASH IN 55 GALLON DRUMS. EMPLOYEE # 1 ASKED THE SUPERVISOR FOR ADDITIONAL DRUMS FOR TRASH. THE SUPERVISOR TOLD EMPLO YEE #1 THAT ADDITIONAL DRUMS WERE LOCATED AT THE END OF THE BUILDING AND THAT EM PLOYEE #1 SHOULD USE AN AIR CHISEL TO REMOVE LIDS FROM ANY DRUMS WHICH HAD LIDS. EMPLOYEE #1 BROUGHT A 55 GALLON DRUM INTO THE SHOP AND ASKED ANOTHER EMPLOYEE T O LIGHT A GAS TORCH FOR HIM. THE OTHER EMPLOYEE LIT THE TORCH FOR EMPLOYEE #1, W
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 18 M
- Nature of injury
- 18
- Part of body
- 5
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 7
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 10
- 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.