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 #14542542

FLAMMABLE VAPORS,WORK RULES,SPARK,BURN,GRINDER,FIRE,CONSTRUCTION,CHEMICAL

Event
FLAMMABLE VAPORS,WORK RULES,SPARK,BURN,GRINDER,FIRE,CONSTRUCTION,CHEMICAL
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14542542
Report ID
418100

Event description

FLAMMABLE VAPORS IGNITED BY SPARKS FROM GRINDER

Investigation abstract

CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEES WERE INSTALLING A NEW OVERHEAD DOOR IN A ROOM 26 FEET LONG BY 12 FEET, 7 INCHES WIDE. THEY WERE USING A PORTABLE GRINDER TO NOTCH OUT THE O VERHEAD DOOR TRACK. IT WAS ABOUT 1:30 PM ON AUGUST 15, 1986. FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS H AD BEEN STORED AT ONE END OF THE ROOM. A SPARK FROM THE GRINDER APPARENTLY IGNIT ED THE FLAMMABLE VAPORS, CAUSING A FIRE WHICH BURNED BOTH EMPLOYEES. THE CONTRAC TOR EMPLOYEES WERE NEVER INFORMED BY THE PLANT THAT FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS WERE STORE D IN THE ROOM. THE CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEES NOTICED THE DRUMS BUT NEVER ASKED WHAT T HEY CONTAINED. THE CHEMICALS WERE LOCATED AT A PRINTING PLANT. EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WERE BOTH HOSPITALIZED WITH SECOND AND THIRD DEGREE BURNS.

Victims (3)

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 30 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    14
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    4
    Environmental factor
    7
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 52 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    14
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    4
    Environmental factor
    7
    Task assigned
    1
  3. #981 Degree 0 Age 0

    Nature of injury
    0
    Part of body
    0
    Event type
    0
    Source
    0
    Occupation code
    0
    Human factor
    0
    Environmental factor
    0
    Task assigned
    0

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.