OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14454466
FLAMMABLE VAPORS,SAFETY BELT,WELDER,WELDING,EXPLOSION,LANYARD,TANK
Event description
EXPLOSION IN WASTE TANK; WELDERS THROWN TO GROUND
Investigation abstract
TWO EMPLOYEES WERE WELDING A PIPE IN PLACE ON A WASTE TANK BY INSTALLING A KNEE TOP TO THE GROUND BETWEEN TANKS. THE DISTANCE OF THE FALL WAS ABOUT 25 FEET. EM PLOYEE #1 WAS WEARING A SAFETY BELT AND LANYARD. HE WAS TIED OFF TO A PIPE RUNNI NG ACROSS THE TOP OF THE TANK. THE LANYARD WAS BROKEN, POSSIBLY BY THE TANK LID WHEN IT WAS BLOWN OFF. EMPLOYEE #2 WAS THROWN TOWARD A BOOM CRANE, WHICH HE APPA RENTLY TRIED TO GRAB. HE THEN FELL AGAINST A METAL BRACE BETWEEN THE TANKS, HELP ING TO BREAK HIS FALL. BRACE. THE TANK WAS USED TO HOLD WASTE STEEP WATER. FIVE DAYS BEFORE THE ACCIDEN T ABOUT 20,000 GALLONS OF WASTE WATER FROM A DISTILLED SPIRITS PLANT (DSP) HAD B EEN PLACED IN THE TANK. ON THE TUESDAY BEFORE THE ACCIDENT THE OPERATOR HAD QUIT PUMPING WASTE WATER INTO THE TANK BECAUSE THE TANK WAS FOAMING OVER THE EDGE. T HE OPERATOR CHECKED THE LEVEL THE DAY OF THE ACCIDENT AND SAID THAT IT HAD GONE DOWN. THE OPERATOR THEN PUMPED WASTE WATER OUT OF THE TANK (FOR REPROCESSING). A BOUT TEN MINUTES AFTER HE SHUT THE PUMP OFF, THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION. EMPLOYEES # 1 AND #2, WHO WERE WELDING THE KNEE BRACE AT THE TIME, WERE THROWN FROM THE TANK
Victims (2)
-
#1 Fatality Age 32 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 5
- Source
- 8
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 27 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 5
- Source
- 8
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 9
- 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.