OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14523542
BURN,REPAIR,WORK RULES,STEAM,VALVE,WATER
Event description
EMPLOYEES BURNED BY ESCAPING HOT WATER AND STEAM
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WERE ASSIGNED THE JOB OF REPAIRING A STEAM FORGE HAMMER. THE Y REMOVED THE STEM BONNET ASSEMBLY, TO GET ACCESS TO THE GLAND ON THE THROTTLE V ALVE, WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS. THEY INTENDED TO LEAVE THE ROTARY VALVE INSIDE THE V ALVE BODY. A SHORT TIME LATER IT WAS NOTED THAT THE ROTARY VALVE WAS WORKING ITS WAY OUT OF THE VALVE BODY. A DECISION WAS MADE TO GO AHEAD AND REMOVE IT COMPLE TELY. WHEN THE ROTARY VALVE WAS REMOVED, HOT CONDENSATE AND STEAM GUSHED OUT OF THE VALVE, BURNING BOTH MEN. THE MAIN STEAM AND EXHAUST VALVES WERE CLOSED. THE DRAINS ON THE STEAM AND EXHAUST LINES HAD BEEN OPENED.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Fatality Age 58 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 5
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 41
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 15
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 60 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 5
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 41
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 15
- 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.