OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14439491
WORK RULES,CHEMICAL BURN,TOXIC FUMES,CONSTRUCTION,ANHYDROUS AMMONIA,HIGH PRESSURE,FALL,CHEMICAL VAPOR,ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE,COMMUNICATION
Event description
Employee burned by release of pressurized ammonia
Investigation abstract
Employee #1 was assigned to replace three ammonia lines. He was told by his supe rvisor that the liquid feed line had been purged, so he climbed a ladder and cut the line. The line contained anhydrous ammonia under pressure at 120 psi. The p ressurized ammonia caused first-degree burns to his face and lungs. The employee then fell off the ladder and bruised his back. He was hospitalized for his inju ries. No one had checked the shut-off valve on the line. The supervisor stated t hat the plant representative had told him that the line was purged.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 33 M
- Nature of injury
- 4
- Part of body
- 8
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 585
- Human factor
- 13
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0170
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#981 Degree 0 Age 0
- Nature of injury
- 0
- Part of body
- 0
- Event type
- 0
- Source
- 0
- Occupation code
- 0
- Human factor
- 0
- Environmental factor
- 0
- Task assigned
- 0
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.