OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14495006
BURN,PRESSURE VESSEL,WORK RULES,RUPTURE,STEAM,HAZARDOUS WASTE,HIGH PRESSURE
Event description
EMPLOYEE KILLED WHEN BURNED BY STEAM FROM RUPTURED BOILER
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYER #1 WAS USING A PORTABLE BOILER AND HEAT EXCHANGER TO HEAT CONTAMINATED WATER AT A HAZARDOUS WASTE SITE. IN THE PIPING BETWEEN THE BOILER AND HEAT EXCHA NGER WERE TWO VALVES AND A STRAINER WHICH WERE MADE OF CLASS 125 B CAST IRON. TH E BOILER WAS OPERATING AT 200 PSIG TO 225 PSIG. THE CAST IRON EQUIPMENT WAS RATE D AT A MAXIMUM OF 145 PSIG. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS STANDING BESIDE THE STRAINER WHEN IT RUPTURED, SPRAYING STEAM HEATED TO ABOUT 380 DEGREES ONTO HIM. HE DIED FROM THE SEVERE BURNS HE RECEIVED. THE EQUIPMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SUBJECTED TO PRESS URE ABOVE ITS CAPACITY, OR A SUITABLE RELIEF VALVE SHOULD HAVE BEEN INSTALLED. T HE BOILER WAS A PORTABLE TRACTOR TRAILER MOUNTED TYPE.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Fatality Age 44 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 6
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 6
- Environmental factor
- 15
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#981 Degree 0 Age 0
- Nature of injury
- 0
- Part of body
- 0
- Event type
- 0
- Source
- 0
- Occupation code
- 0
- Human factor
- 0
- Environmental factor
- 0
- Task assigned
- 0
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.