OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14447585
CHEST,HEAD,EXPLOSION,HIGH PRESSURE,STRUCK BY,FLYING OBJECT,TANK
Event description
EMPLOYEE STRUCK BY FLYING PARTS WHEN ALUMINUM TANK EXPLODED
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 WAS KILLED WHEN HE WAS STRUCK IN THE CHEST AND HEAD AREA BY FLYING M SSURIZED ON APRIL 23, 1984, JUST BEFORE THE THE EXPLOSION. THE CONTAINER ITSELF IS OF .193 THICKNESS. THE END THAT BLEW OFF IS OF .200 THICKNESS. BOTH WERE 3/16 PLATE. NO WELDING WAS BEING DONE AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT. ETAL PIECES FROM AN EXPLODING ALUMINUM STORAGE TANK. THE TANK INVOLVED WAS A 22" BY 7' ALUMINUM CYLINDRICAL CONTAINER DESCRIBED ONLY AS A "RELAXATION CHAMBER" F OR JP-5 JET FUEL. (WE WERE TOLD THAT THESE CHAMBERS ARE BEING INSTALLED ON ALL J ET FUEL SERVICE TRUCKS FOR THE PURPOSE OF 'RELAXING' THE FUEL. "RELAXING" THE FU EL ALLEGEDLY REDUCES THE AMOUNT OF STATIC ELECTRICITY AROUND THE FUEL WHILE THE AIRCRAFT IS BEING SERVICED.) THE OPERATION INVOLVED AT THE TIME WAS LEAK TESTING , USING THE AIR PRESSURE, SOAP & WATER METHOD. THE TANK WAS PRESSURIZED TO 80 PS IG. THE TANK HAD BEEN PURGED AND WELDED ON APRIL 20, 1984. THE CONTAINER WAS PRE
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 43 M
- Nature of injury
- 18
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 2
- Occupation code
- 783
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 5
- 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.