OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14563654
BURN,CHEMICAL REACTION,CHEMICAL BURN,SPILL,CHEMICAL,SUPER PHOSPHATE ACID
Event description
EMPLOYEE BURNED BY SUPER PHOSPHATE ACID SPILLED ON HIM
Investigation abstract
WHILE WORKING AS A SUPER PHOSPHATE ACID PROCESS OPERATOR, EMPLOYEE #1 RECEIVED S EVERE BURNS OVER HIS ENTIRE BODY WHEN HOT SUPER PHOSPHATE ACID SPILLED ONTO HIM. THE CHEMICAL SPILLED OVER THE TOP OF THE STORAGE TANK AFTER WATER ENTERED ENTER ED THE TANK. WATER WAS ALLOWED INTO THE STORAGE TANK BECAUSE THE FLOW CONTROL VA LVE IN THE 6 INCH PRODUCT LINE WAS INADVERTENTLY LEFT PARTIALLY OPEN BY EMPLOYEE #1. ALTHOUGH THE VALVE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE COMPLETELY CLOSED, AN INVESTIGATION C ONDUCTED AFTER THE ACCIDENT REVEALED THAT IT HAD BEEN LEFT PARTIALLY OPEN. THE W ATER REACTED WITH THE SUPER PHOSPHATE ACID, CAUSING IT TO ERUPT OVER THE TOP OF THE STORAGE TANK. EMPLOYEE #1 DIED IN THE HOSPITAL ON AUGUST 26, 1984.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 38 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 2085
- 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.