105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14457378

BURN,TANK TRUCK,FRACTURE,MAINTENANCE,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,WORK RULES,EXPLOSION,FALL,GASOLINE,WRIST

Event
BURN,TANK TRUCK,FRACTURE,MAINTENANCE,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,WORK RULES,EXPLOSION,FALL,GASOLINE,WRIST
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14457378
Report ID
352420

Event description

Employee injured when gasoline fumes in tanker ignite

Investigation abstract

Employee #1 was working on an empty gasoline tanker transport when he noticed th to the ground. He sustained a broken wrist and second-degree burns over approxi mately 30 percent of his upper body. e #4 pod depth gauge sensor, part of the tanker's overfill protection system, wa s giving a false reading. He opened the pod's top cover and tried to wipe off th e sensor with a rag. When this did not correct the problem, he asked for a hair dryer but was unable to find one. Employee #1 then climbed atop the tanker again with a 1,200 watt Black and Decker heat stripper, MD #9751, to remove the conde nsation from the sensor. Gasoline had been hauled in the tanker three days earli er. The heat gun, which reaches temperatures between 730 and 830 degrees F, igni ted the gasoline fumes. Employee #1 was blown off the top of the tanker and fell

Victim

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 46 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    14
    Source
    35
    Occupation code
    715
    Human factor
    6
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1340
    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.