104,543Records 70,659Employers 84,666Hospitalizations 27,563Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-09-30
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14516017

CONFINED SPACE,FIRE,RAILROAD CAR,EXPLOSION,SPARK,ELECTRIC CORD,PAINTER

Event
CONFINED SPACE,FIRE,RAILROAD CAR,EXPLOSION,SPARK,ELECTRIC CORD,PAINTER
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14516017
Report ID
420600

Event description

FIRE / EXPLOSION IN CONFINED SPACE

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1 WAS PAINTING THE INTERIOR OF A 10,000 GALLON CAPACITY RAILROAD TANK CAR WHILE EMPLOYEE #2 HANDLED THE AIR LINES ON TOP OF THE CAR. SPRAYING THE INTE RIOR NORMALLY TAKES 45 MINUTES TO 1 HOUR. SOMETHING CAUSED THE FLEXIBLE CORD OF AN EXPLOSION-PROOF LIGHT TO BECOME SEPARATED FROM THE LIGHT HOUSING. A SPARK IGN ITED THE FLAMMABLE ATMOSPHERE, CAUSING A FIRE AND EXPLOSION INSIDE THE CAR.

Victims (2)

  1. #1 Fatality Age 24 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    14
    Source
    16
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    10
    Hazardous substance
    1574
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 25 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    5
    Event type
    14
    Source
    16
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    10
    Hazardous substance
    1574
    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.