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 #14549042

FRACTURE,FINGER,EXPLOSION,NECK,ARM,POWDER,FACE,LEG

Event
FRACTURE,FINGER,EXPLOSION,NECK,ARM,POWDER,FACE,LEG
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14549042
Report ID
951510

Event description

FLASH POWDER EXPLODED, INJURING EMPLOYEE

Investigation abstract

ON AUGUST 3, 1984, AT APPROXIMATELY 11:45 AM, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS USING A MORTAR AND PESTLE TO REDUCE CAKES OF FLASH POWDER TO A FINE POWDER. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS POUNDI NG A CAKE WHEN THE IT EXPLODED AND SET OFF THE REST OF THE POWDER. THE EXPLOSION FRAGMENTED THE MORTAR, PESTLE, AND POWDER CANTAINER. SMALL PIECES OF GLASS BECA ME EMBEDDED IN EMPLOYEE #1'S FACE, NECK, AND ARMS; LARGER GLASS AND CERAMIC OBJE CTS BECAME EMBEDDED IN HER LEGS. SHE ALSO SUFFERED A BROKEN RING FINGER. SHE WAS HOSPITALIZED.

Victim

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 28 F

    Nature of injury
    7
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    1
    Source
    20
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    9
    Task assigned
    2

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.