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Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14428973

BURN,PPE,WORK RULES

Event
BURN,PPE,WORK RULES
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14428973
Report ID
830500

Event description

Employee burned by experimental propellant

Investigation abstract

At approximately 11:30 a.m. on April 18, 1988, a research propellant mixture was overheated during a heating and combining procedure, causing it to harden and c rust over. The rejected 7 to 8 kg batch of propellant was placed outside the res earch trailer on a stainless steel table. After a short interval, the propellant started to smoke and emit a white powder. Employee #1 walked toward the propell ant to investigate. When he was within 15 feet of the material, he raised his fa ce shield to get a better look. At that time, the heat buildup within the cruste d-over propellant batch deflagrated. Employee #1 sustained 1st-and 2nd-degree bu rns to his face and right hand.

Victim

  1. #1 Non-hospitalized injury Age 52 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    9
    Event type
    14
    Source
    23
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    10
    Task assigned
    2

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.