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 #14571095

BURN,SEVERED,LUNG,EXPLOSIVES,FIREWORKS,WORK RULES,EXPLOSION,SPARK,LEG

Event
BURN,SEVERED,LUNG,EXPLOSIVES,FIREWORKS,WORK RULES,EXPLOSION,SPARK,LEG
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14571095
Report ID
524700

Event description

Employee killed in explosion at fireworks plant

Investigation abstract

Employee #1 was working in a fireworks plant when a 22 in. diameter steel lid fe fracture and a green-stick fracture of the tibia and fibia in this right leg, p ulmonary contusions of both lungs, and third-degree burns over 50 percent of his body. Employee #1 was killed. ll off a 32 in. high by 18 in. diameter aluminum drum. The lid hit the ground, c ausing a spark that triggered an explosion. The aluminum drum contained a mixtur e of potassium nitrate, sulfur, charcoal, 2 ff power black powder, and a dextrin glue. Employee #1 was approximately 54 ft from the first explosion and approxim ately 5 ft from a second explosion, which was triggered by the same spark or by the first explosion. The second drum to explode, which weighed approximately 72 lb, contained potassium nitrate, potassium perchlorate, charcoal, sulfur, and de xtrin. The explosion severed Employee #1's left leg. He also suffered a compound

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 50 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    8
    Source
    43
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    6
    Environmental factor
    9
    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.