OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14478515
CUYAHOGA WRECKING CORP.
PHILADELPHIA, PA·
Event description
2 CONSTRUCTION WORKERS BURNED TO DEATH WHEN VAPORS IGNITED
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WERE DISMANTLING FUEL OIL PIPELINES, USING AN OXYGEN AND PRO PANE CUTTING TORCH. THEY WERE WORKING ON AN ELEVATED PIPE SUPPORT WHICH WAS APPR OXIMATELY 25 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND. APPARENTLY, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS USING A CUTTING TORCH WHILE EMPLOYEE #2 WAS MANUALLY OPENING BOLTS TO A FLANGE ON THE PIPELINE. WHEN THE FLANGE WAS OPENED, RESIDUES FROM #4 FUEL OIL AND #6 FUEL OIL IGNITED. T HE ENSUING FIRE COMPLETELY ENGULFED EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2. THEY FELL TO THE GROUND . EMPLOYEE #1 DIED AT THE SITE AND EMPLOYEE #2 WAS DOA AT THE HOSPITAL. THE PIPE LINES HAD NOT BEEN TESTED OR PURGED PRIOR TO THE DEMOLITION WORK.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Fatality Age 36 M
- Nature of injury
- 6
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 5
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 10
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Fatality Age 39 M
- Nature of injury
- 6
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 5
- 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.