OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14480602
BURN,FRACTURE,STATIC ELECTRICITY,PRESSURE VESSEL,CLEANING,FIRE,EXPLOSION,COMBUSTIBLE LIQUID,FALL,CHEMICAL
Event description
EXPLOSION AND FIRE IN REACTOR BEING CLEANED; WORKERS HURT
Investigation abstract
ON OCTOBER 8, 1986, EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 BEGAN TO WASH OUT A HORIZONTAL CYLINDRIC A COMBUSTIBLE MIXTURE. AL REACTOR VESSEL, 8 FEET BY 8 FEET. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS WORKING FROM A PLATFORM LOC ATED 13 FEET ABOVE THE FLOOR. EMPLOYEE #2 LIFTED A 55 GALLON DRUM CONTAINING ABO UT 30 GALLONS OF TOLUENE ONTO THE PLATFORM. EMPLOYEE #1 THEN POURED THE TOLUENE THROUGH A FUNNEL DIRECTLY INTO THE VESSEL. THERE WAS A SUDDEN FIRE AND EXPLOSION , CAUSING EMPLOYEE #1 TO JUMP FROM THE PLATFORM AND BREAK HIS LEG. EMPLOYEE #2 D RAGGED EMPLOYEE #1, NOW BADLY BURNED AND UNABLE TO WALK, OUT OF THE BUILDING. BO TH EMPLOYEES WERE HOSPITALIZED. THE FIRE AND EXPLOSION WAS CAUSED BY STATIC ELEC TRICITY GENERATED BY THE FREE FALL OF LIQUID TOLUENE INTO THE VESSEL CONTAINING
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 42 M
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 15
- Event type
- 5
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 17
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 2460
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 56 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 17
- Environmental factor
- 7
- 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.