OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14399034
HOPPER CAR,SUFFOCATED,AMMONIUM NITRATE,WORK RULES,RAILROAD CAR,INHALATION,FLOWING MATERIAL,FALL
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 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 3
- Event type
- 12
- Source
- 38
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 8
- Task assigned
- 1
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