OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14505531
TANK TRUCK,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,WORK RULES,CONSTRUCTION,EXPLOSION,HOT ASPHALT
Event description
EMPLOYEE KILLED IN EXPLOSION OF ASPHALT TANK FUMES
Investigation abstract
AT THE END OF A WORK DAY, AN ASPHALT TANKER WITH A 6,500 GALLON CAPACITY WAS ALM EXPLOSION SENT HIM 50 FEET IN THE AIR. HE WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD WHEN THE CORONER A RRIVED. OST EMPTY. THE DISTRIBUTOR TRUCK OPERATOR AND HIS LABORER, EMPLOYEE #1, HAD DISC USSED HOW MUCH ASPHALT REMAINED IN THE TANKER. IF MORE THAN APPROXIMATELY 50 GAL LONS REMAINED, THE TANKER WOULD NEED TO BE DRIVEN TO THE ASPHALT PLANT FOR UNLOA DING. POSSIBLY TO SAVE TIME, EMPLOYEE #1 WANTED TO BE SURE THE LEVEL WAS LOW ENO UGH THAT THERE WAS NO NEED TO UNLOAD. HE ASKED HIS COWORKER FOR A LIGHTER TO CHE CK INSIDE THE TANKER; HIS OWN LIGHTER WAS ABOUT EMPTY. THE COWORKER SAID, "DON'T DO THAT, IT COULD BLOW UP. I'LL GO GET A FLASHLIGHT." A MOMENT LATER, AN EXPLOS ION OCCURRED. EMPLOYEE #1 HAD CLIMBED ATOP THE TANKER WITH HIS OWN LIGHTER. THE
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 28 M
- Nature of injury
- 6
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 35
- 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.