OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221720501

MAYER REPAIR LLC

STURTEVANT, WI— 2024-11-11T00:00:00

Event: Abdomen, Arm, Automobile, Automotive Repair, Burn, Chemical Vapor, Chest, Contusion, Cutter, Cutting, Cutting And Burning, Drum, Engineering Controls, Exploded, Explosion, Face, Fire, Flammable Liquid, Flammable Vapors, Hot Work, Lack of Engineering Controls, Mechanic, Misjudgment, Misjudgment of Hazardous Situation, Plasma, Struck By, Torch cutting, Training, Vapor, Welder
NAICS: 811198
Inspection type: Federal Agency
Activity number: #347894362
Employer profile: MAYER REPAIR LLC
Summary number: 221720501
Report ID: 0523400

Event description

Employee sustains burns while plasma cutting drum top, later

Investigation abstract

At 11:00 a.m. on November 11, 2024, an employee working as a mechanic/welder for an automotive shop was using a a plasma cutter to cut the top off a 55-gallon metal drum. The employee was unaware the drum contained flammable liquids. The instant the plasma cutter touched the drum, the drum exploded upwards and came to rest in the adjacent stall. The explosion caused a localized fire due to the flammable liquid in the drum. The employee was sustained multiple contusions and burns to his abdomen, face, chest and arms in the explosion. The employee was flown to the emergency department of a medical center. At 6:52 p.m. on November 19, 2024, the employee died from his injuries.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 47 M

Event type
1

Occupation code
505

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.