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 #14567788

BURN,CITRIC ACID,EXPLOSION,SALT VAT

Event
BURN,CITRIC ACID,EXPLOSION,SALT VAT
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14567788
Report ID
454510

Event description

EXPLOSION IN SALT VAT

Investigation abstract

THE EMPLOYEES WERE ADDING SALT TO A SALT BATH USED TO CLEAN METAL PARTS. THE DRU M WAS NOT PROPERLY LABELED. IT ACTUALLY CONTAINED CITRIC ACID. WHEN THE DRUM OF CITRIC ACID WAS ADDED TO THE VAT AN EXPLOSION RESULTED. THREE EMPLOYEES WERE BUR NED. ONE EMPLOYEE DIED FROM BURNS AND INFECTION. THE ACCIDENT MAY HAVE BEEN PREV ENTED IF THE LAB HAD ANALYZED THE CONTENTS OF THE DRUM PRIOR TO USE.

Victims (3)

  1. #1 Fatality Age 40 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    1
    Source
    10
    Occupation code
    863
    Human factor
    6
    Environmental factor
    9
    Hazardous substance
    2260
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 40 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    1
    Source
    10
    Occupation code
    863
    Human factor
    6
    Environmental factor
    9
    Hazardous substance
    2260
    Task assigned
    1
  3. #3 Non-hospitalized injury Age 55 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    1
    Source
    10
    Occupation code
    863
    Human factor
    6
    Environmental factor
    9
    Hazardous substance
    2260
    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.