OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14518559

NATIONAL LINEN SERVICE, INC.

JACKSONVILLE, FL· 1987-10-29T13:40:00

Event: HEAD, FLAMMABLE VAPORS, WORK RULES, DRUM, FIRE, EXPLOSION, STRUCK BY, CUTTING AND BURNING
NAICS: 000000
Inspection type: Accident-driven
Activity number: #101360162
Employer profile: NATIONAL LINEN SERVICE, INC.
Summary number: 14518559
Report ID: 419700

Event description

EMPLOYEE KILLED WHEN 55 GALLON DRUM EXPLODED

Investigation abstract

AT APPROXIMATELY 1:40 PM ON OCTOBER 29, 1987, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS WORKING ALONE IN A N OPEN AREA IN THE NORTHWESTERN CORNER OF THE COMPANY'S PROPERTY. HE WAS CUTTING THE TOP AND BOTTOM OFF A 55 GALLON DRUM, USING AN OXYACETYLENE CUTTING TORCH. T HE DRUM HAD NOT BEEN THOROUGHLY CLEANED, PURGED, OR VENTED. HE APPLIED HEAT TO T HE TOP OF THE DRUM WITH THE TORCH, CUTTING A SMALL HOLE. EXPLOSIVE VAPORS INSIDE THE DRUM IGNITED, CAUSING AN EXPLOSION WHICH PROPELLED THE DRUM INTO EMPLOYEE # 1'S HEAD. A FIRE ALSO STARTED IN THE IMMEDIATE AREA. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS KILLED INST ANTLY.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 44 M

Nature of injury
22

Part of body
13

Event type
1

Source
16

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.