OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14486518
BURN,ELECTRIC ARC,ELECTRICAL,VENTILATION,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,FIRE,E PTD,EXPLOSION,ELEC UTILITY WORK,MANHOLE
Event description
BURN - EXPLOSION IN MANHOLE
Investigation abstract
AN EMPLOYEE OF AN ELECTRIC UTILITY RESPONDED TO A REPORT OF FIRE IN A MANHOLE. T HERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF A FIRE, SO THE EMPLOYEE SET UP BARRICADES AROUND THE MAN HOLE AND REMOVED THE MANHOLE COVER TO ALLOW THE MANHOLE TO VENTILATE. AFTER THE COVER HAD BEEN REMOVED FOR ABOUT TEN MINUTES, THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION IN THE MANH OLE. THE EMPLOYEE, WHO HAD BEEN STANDING ON THE SIDEWALK, 10 FEET AWAY FROM THE MANHOLE COVER, SUSTAINED BURNS ON HIS FACE. APPARENTLY, AN ACCUMULATION OF FLAMM ABLE GASES EXPLODED BECAUSE OF SOME DEFECTIVE ELECTRIC WIRING IN THE MANHOLE.
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 22 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 9
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 18
- 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.