OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14399034
EL DORADO CHEMICAL CO.
TERRELL, TX·
Event description
Employee killed after fall into ammonium nitrate hopper car
Investigation abstract
At approximately 8:30 p.m. on March 25, 1989, Employee #1, age 17, and a coworke ff the conveyor system and to get help. Paramedics on site attempted a medical r escue but considered Employee #1 to have suffocated in the prilled ammonium nitr ate. r were emptying a covered railroad car, serial #FL 1375, that had three compartm ents. Two of the compartments were empty and the third was one-half to two-third s full of ammonium nitrate. The fertilizer was gravity fed to a conveyor system at the bottom. Employee #1 and the coworker alternated using an 18 ft pole to po ke into the vortex and break up clumps. They apparently decided that it would be easier to kick at the clumps and climbed into the cone of the hopper, but lost their grip and fell into the quicksand-like prilled fertilizer. The coworker att empted to assist Employee #1 but was unsuccessful; he got out and went to turn o
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 17 Male
- Nature of injury
- Asphyxia (2)
- Part of body
- BACK (3)
- Accident type
- CARD-VASC/RESP FAIL. (12)
- Source of injury
- TRAIN/RAILROAD EQUIP (38)
- Occupation
- Occupation not reported (999)
- Human factor
- MISJUDGMENT, HAZ. SITUATION (1)
- Environmental factor
- MATERIALS HANDLG EQUIP./METHOD (8)
- Task assigned
- Task regularly assigned (1)
Labels are OSHA's own, from the code dictionary published with the accident-investigation file. The raw code is shown beside each one so this page can be reconciled against OSHA's bulk data. OSHA notes that nature of injury, part of body, source of injury and accident type in this file are not coded to the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System, and that the occupation titles are not standardised — so these values are not directly comparable with the OIICS-coded severe injury reports.