OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14376941
BURN,MEK,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,DRUM,MIXER,SPARK
Event description
IGNITION OF FLAMMABLE VAPORS FROM A LACQUER MIXER
Investigation abstract
ON APRIL 23, 1984, SHORTLY BEFORE NOON, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS MIXING A SMALL BATCH OF ING TO THE DRUM CONTENTS. HIS CLOTHES WERE SATURATED WITH THE DRUM CONTENTS AND MEK. THE NOW EMPTY DRUM BECAME A SOURCE OF IGNITION, WITH SPARKS IGNITING THE VA PORS FROM THE EMPLOYEE'S CLOTHING. HE SUFFERED FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD DEGREE BU RNS OVER 100% OF HIS BODY (THICK MIXTURE - 140 KREBBES). LAQUER IN A 55 GALLON DRUM. AFTER PLACING THE REQUIRED AMOUNT OF METHYL ETHYL KE TONE (MEK-22F (FP)) INTO THE DRUM (PREPARING FOR A 50-GALLON AMOUNT), HE ADDED A SUFFICIENT AMOUNT OF ACRYLIC PELLETS AND STARTED THE AGITATOR. HE THEN SHUT OFF THE AGITATOR AND LEFT TEMPORARILY. HE RETURNED AT 12 O'CLOCK AND RESTARTED THE AGITATOR. (IT IS SPECULATED THAT HE SET THE AGITATOR AT THE HIGH SPEED - 1750 RP M.) WHEN THE DRUM BEGAN TO "WOBBLE", IT CAUSED THE SHARPLY POINTED AGITATOR DISC TO PENETRATE AND PUNCH HOLES IN THE BOTTOM OF THE DRUM. THE LIQUID IN THE DRUM WAS SIMULTANEOUSLY THROWN UPWARD, STRIKING THE 7-GALLON BUCKET OF MEK HE WAS ADD
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 62 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 31
- Event type
- 10
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 6
- Environmental factor
- 10
- Hazardous substance
- 1750
- 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.