104,543Records 70,659Employers 84,666Hospitalizations 27,563Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-09-30
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14469480

EXPLOSION,REFINERY,ARC WELDING,CUTTING AND BURNING

Event
EXPLOSION,REFINERY,ARC WELDING,CUTTING AND BURNING
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14469480
Report ID
317500

Event description

REFINERY EXPLOSION

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEES #2 AND #3 WERE WELDING (ARC) AND CUTTING AND BURNING (OXYGEN & ACE. TO RCH) ON TOP OF TANK NUMBER 381 TO ISOLATE IT FROM THREE (3) OTHER IDENTICAL TANK S (TANK SIZE 33 FEET HIGH AND 41 FEET CIRCUMFERENCE). EMPLOYEE #1 WAS ASSIGNED T O WATCH FOR FIRE AND WAS SOMEWHERE AT BASE OF THE TANKS ON THE EAST SIDE BETWEEN TANKS AND AN OLD WAX BUILDING. AN EXPLOSION OCCURRED. EMPLOYEES #1 & #2 WERE IM MEDIATELY KILLED. EMPLOYEE #3 IS IN WEST PENN HOSPITAL WITH SECOND AND THIRD DEG REE BURNS OVER 90% OF HIS BODY.

Victims (3)

  1. #1 Fatality Age 30 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    14
    Source
    16
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    10
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Fatality Age 60 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    14
    Source
    16
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    10
    Task assigned
    1
  3. #3 Hospitalized Age 41 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    14
    Source
    16
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    10
    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.