105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14518260

FLAMMABLE VAPORS,WORK RULES,WELDER,WELDING,EXPLOSION,PURGING,TANK

Event
FLAMMABLE VAPORS,WORK RULES,WELDER,WELDING,EXPLOSION,PURGING,TANK
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14518260
Report ID
419700

Event description

TANK EXPLODED WHILE WELDING WORK UNDERWAY; 3 EMPLOYEES HURT

Investigation abstract

THREE EMPLOYEES WERE WELDING AND PATCHING HOLES ON BLOW TANK #2 AT THE GEORGIA P ACIFIC CORPORATION PULP MILL AT PALATKA, FLORIDA WHEN THE TANK EXPLODED. EMPLOYE E #1 WAS STANDING ON TOP OF THE TANK, EMPLOYEE #2 WAS WELDING FROM A SCAFFOLD AT TACHED TO THE TANK AND A MILLWRIGHT (EMPLOYEE #3) WAS OBSERVING FROM A TANK CATW ALK. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS CRITICALLY INJURED. THE OTHER TWO EMPLOYEES RECIEVED INJURI ES WHICH DID NOT REQUIRE HOSPITIZATION. THE TANK HAD NOT BEEN PURGED, NOR HAD IT BEEN TESTED FOR FLAMMABLE VAPORS BEFORE THE WORK WAS BEGUN.

Victims (3)

  1. #1 Fatality Age 58 M

    Nature of injury
    21
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    14
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    5
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 62 M

    Nature of injury
    21
    Part of body
    3
    Event type
    14
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    5
    Task assigned
    1
  3. #3 Non-hospitalized injury Age 36 M

    Nature of injury
    21
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    14
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    5
    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.