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 #14559025

HOT WATER TANK,STEAM,CLOGGED,VALVE,HOT WATER,BURN,MAINTENANCE,REFINERY,SLUDGE

Event
HOT WATER TANK,STEAM,CLOGGED,VALVE,HOT WATER,BURN,MAINTENANCE,REFINERY,SLUDGE
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14559025
Report ID
855610

Event description

EMPLOYEES BURNED BY HOT WATER AND SLUDGE FROM WATER VESSEL

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 ARE EMPLOYED AS METAL CRAFTSMEN IN A REFINERY. THEY WERE BUR NED BY HOT WATER AND SLUDGE WHEN THEY REMOVED A BOTTOM PLATE FROM A LIME, HOT PR OCESS WATER SOFTENER VESSEL. WATER, LIME, SODA ASH AND STEAM TO HEAT THE INCOMIN G WATER ARE FED INTO THE VESSEL. THIS FORMS A SLUDGE BLANKET IN THE VESSEL, WHIC H CHEMICALLY REDUCES THE HARDNESS OF THE WATER. THIS PROCESSED WATER IS USED IN THE OIL REFINERY BOILERS. THE SLUDGE DRAIN VALVES WERE PLUGGED. THE TWO EMPLOYEE S HAD TO "TAKE DOWN" THE VESSEL AND REMOVE THE BOTTOM PLATE TO DETERMINE THE EXT ENT OF THE BLOCKAGE.

Victims (3)

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 37 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    1
    Source
    41
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    11
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 42 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    1
    Source
    41
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    11
    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.