OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14453690
BEAM,LEAK,HYDROGEN,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,GAS,EXPLOSION,GAS LEAK,PIPE,CHEMICAL
Event description
CHEMICAL PLANT EXPLOSION
Investigation abstract
ON JULY 1, 1985, EMPLOYEE #1 DETECTED A PIN HOLE LEAK IN A 5000 PSI HYDROGEN GAS 0 FEET FROM THE BUILDING WHEN THE EXPLOSION OCCURRED. EMPLOYEES #3,4,5, AND 6 WE RE IN THE CONTROL ROOM WHICH IS ADJACENT TO THE COMPRESSOR HOUSE AND EMPLOYEE #8 WAS IN THE ACID PLANT SOME 100 FEET AWAY. LINE WELD AT A SLIP JOINT. HE WROTE UP A WORK ORDER TO REPAIR THE LEAK, BUT THE COMPANY OPTED TO WAIT UNTIL JULY 8 TO BEGIN REPAIRS. TWO DAYS BEFORE THE LEAK W AS DUE TO BE REPAIRED, ON JULY 6, THE WELD AT THE JOINT CAME APART, RESULTING IN AN EXPLOSION WHICH SENT BUILDING PIECES AND EQUIPMENT FLYING IN ALL DIRECTIONS. THE POSSIBLE IGNITION SOURCES ARE EITHER FRICTION OR PIPES SLAMMING INTO THE ST EEL I-BEAM NEXT TO THE GAS LINE PIPE. BEFORE THE EXPLOSION OCCURRED, EMPLOYEE #2 HAD SMELLED AMMONIA. HE THEN DISCOVERED A LARGE CLOUD OF AMMONIA GAS ON THE FLO OR OF THE COMPRESSOR ROOM AND PROCEEDED TO EVACUATE THE BUILDING. HE WAS ABOUT 4
Victims (7)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 39 M
- Nature of injury
- 6
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 8
- Occupation code
- 699
- Human factor
- 12
- Environmental factor
- 5
- Hazardous substance
- 1410
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 38 M
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 11
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 8
- Occupation code
- 699
- Human factor
- 12
- Environmental factor
- 5
- Hazardous substance
- 1410
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#3 Hospitalized Age 32 M
- Nature of injury
- 7
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 8
- Occupation code
- 699
- Human factor
- 12
- Environmental factor
- 5
- Hazardous substance
- 1410
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#4 Hospitalized Age 31 M
- Nature of injury
- 9
- Part of body
- 20
- Event type
- 5
- Source
- 5
- Occupation code
- 699
- Human factor
- 12
- Environmental factor
- 13
- Hazardous substance
- 1410
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#5 Non-hospitalized injury Age 43 F
- Nature of injury
- 7
- Part of body
- 9
- Event type
- 4
- Source
- 5
- Occupation code
- 699
- Human factor
- 12
- Environmental factor
- 13
- Hazardous substance
- 1410
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#6 Non-hospitalized injury Age 29 M
- Nature of injury
- 7
- Part of body
- 9
- Event type
- 4
- Source
- 5
- Occupation code
- 699
- Human factor
- 12
- Environmental factor
- 13
- Hazardous substance
- 1410
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#7 Non-hospitalized injury Age 25 M
- Nature of injury
- 9
- Part of body
- 15
- Event type
- 5
- Source
- 5
- Occupation code
- 699
- Human factor
- 12
- Environmental factor
- 13
- Hazardous substance
- 1410
- 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.