Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025
105,991Records 71,450Employers 85,836Hospitalizations 27,959Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-11-30

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14379150

RICE BROTHERS

Event
CYLINDER, ACETYLENE, WORK RULES, WELDER, CONSTRUCTION, WELDING, EXPLOSION, VALVE, GAS LEAK
NAICS
000000
Inspection type
Unprogrammed Related
Activity number
#101760155
Employer profile
RICE BROTHERS
Summary number
14379150
Report ID
524500

Event description

ACETYLENE TANK LEAKED AT VALVE; EXPLODED

Investigation abstract

WELDERS WERE GETTING READY TO CUT SOME I-BEAMS, USING OXY-ACETYLENE TORCHES. A W ELDER LIT HIS TORCH AND WENT TO ADJUST THE GAS REGULATOR. THE ACETYLENE TANK HAD DEVELOPED A LEAK AT THE VALVE. THE LEAKING ACETYLENE WAS SOMEHOW IGNITED. THE W ELDERS WERE UNABLE TO EXTINGUISH THE FIRE OR SHUT OFF THE GAS, SO THEY FLED THE AREA. AFTER THE WELDERS LEFT THE BUILDING AN EXPLOSION OCCURRED. THE WELDERS HAD NOT CHECKED FOR LEAKS AT THE TANK CONNECTIONS BEFORE BEGINNING WELDING.

Victims (2)

  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
  2. #982 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.