105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14393532

SHIPYARD,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,WORK RULES,EXPLOSION,HEARING LOSS,SHIP

Event
SHIPYARD,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,WORK RULES,EXPLOSION,HEARING LOSS,SHIP
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14393532
Report ID
625700

Event description

Ten employees injured in explosion on ship

Investigation abstract

At approximately 8:35 a.m. on July 3, 1987, Employees #1 through #10 were on the lso sustained injuries requiring hospitalization. As of July 15, 1987, one emplo yee remained hospitalized. Weather conditions played no role in this accident. M/V Maritime Explorer, which was in dry dock being converted into a vessel that could uncover buried treasure. A cutting torch on deck that was within 2 1/2 to 3 feet of the hatch hole ignited methyl acetylene vapors, resulting in an explo sion in the rudder room that blew the hatch door into the engine room. There was extensive damage to the support beams of the rudder room, and the deck was rupt ured down both sides. Repercussions from the blast also traveled through the eng ine room to the starboard stack. Employees #2 through #9 suffered hearing loss, for which Employees #2, #7, #8, and #9 were hospitalized. Employees #1 and #10 a

Victims (10)

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 30 M

    Nature of injury
    3
    Part of body
    13
    Event type
    14
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1652
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #10 Hospitalized Age 22 M

    Nature of injury
    9
    Part of body
    17
    Event type
    14
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1652
    Task assigned
    1
  3. #2 Hospitalized Age 25 M

    Nature of injury
    14
    Part of body
    6
    Event type
    14
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1652
    Task assigned
    1
  4. #3 Non-hospitalized injury Age 36 M

    Nature of injury
    14
    Part of body
    6
    Event type
    14
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1652
    Task assigned
    1
  5. #4 Non-hospitalized injury Age 41 M

    Nature of injury
    14
    Part of body
    6
    Event type
    14
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1652
    Task assigned
    1
  6. #5 Non-hospitalized injury Age 40 M

    Nature of injury
    14
    Part of body
    6
    Event type
    14
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1652
    Task assigned
    1
  7. #6 Non-hospitalized injury Age 28 M

    Nature of injury
    14
    Part of body
    6
    Event type
    14
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1652
    Task assigned
    1
  8. #7 Hospitalized Age 29 M

    Nature of injury
    14
    Part of body
    6
    Event type
    14
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1652
    Task assigned
    1
  9. #8 Hospitalized Age 32 M

    Nature of injury
    14
    Part of body
    6
    Event type
    14
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1652
    Task assigned
    1
  10. #9 Hospitalized Age 29 M

    Nature of injury
    14
    Part of body
    6
    Event type
    14
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1652
    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.