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 #14426860

TANK TRUCK,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,WELDER,WELDING,CRUDE OIL,EXPLOSION,TANK

Event
TANK TRUCK,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,WELDER,WELDING,CRUDE OIL,EXPLOSION,TANK
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14426860
Report ID
830500

Event description

TANK EXPLODED WHILE BEING WELDED

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1, A WELDER, WAS PREPARING TO WELD A PIN HOLE LEAK IN A TANKER TRUCK. HE STEAM CLEANED THE TANK, INSIDE AND OUT, FOR ABOUT ONE HOUR. THE TANKER HAD JU ST FINISHED CARRYING CRUDE OIL. A LANDA PHW SERIES STEAM CLEANER WAS USED TO CLE AN THE HEIL COMPANY TANKER (SERIAL #924900). THE DRIVER OF THE TRUCK PULLED THE TRUCK INTO THE BUILDING AND THE WELDER PREPARED TO FIX THE LEAK. THE TANK EXPLOD ED, KILLING THE WELDER. HE HAD IGNITED THE VAPORS INSIDE THE TANK WHEN HE TRIED TO REPAIR THE PINHOLE.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 28 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    6
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    11
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    5010
    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.