OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #605584
ALCHEM CHEMICAL COMPANY
ATLANTA, GA·
Event description
SOLVENT SPILLED ON EMPLOYEE; RECEIVED CHEMICAL BURNS
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 IS AN EMPLOYEE OF A CHEMICAL WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTION COMPANY. HE WAS S THAT THE RELIEF VALVE OPENED ONLY PARTIALLY. 500 TO 600 GALLONS OF SOLVENT WER E PUMPED INTO THE TANK BEFORE THE EXCESSIVE PRESSURE CAUSED THE BLOW OUT. EMPLOY EE #1 RECEIVED FIRST DEGREE BURNS ON HIS BACK. DELIVERING APPROXIMATELY 1,000 GALLONS OF SHELL SOL 340 (MINERAL SPIRITS) TO A C HEMICAL MANUFACTURING COMPANY. HE CONNECTED THE HOSE FROM HIS TRUCK TO THE INLET VALVE OF THE 1,000 GALLON STORAGE TANK AND BEGAN PUMPING THE SOLVENT INTO THE T ANK. AFTER A FEW MINUTES THE HOSE SUDDENLY RUPTURED AND THE END OF THE CYLINDRIC AL, HORZONTAL STEEL STORAGE TANK BLEW OUT. THE EMPLOYEE'S BACK WAS TURNED WHEN T HE RUPTURE OCCURRED. HE WAS SOAKED WITH THE LIQUID. NO FIRE OCCURRED. THE STORAG E TANK'S RELIEF VALVE WAS AN OPW 95-UT 2 INCH PRESSURE-VACUUM RELIEF VALVE. THE VALVE WAS ABOUT 20 YEARS OLD. THE TANK WAS APPROXIMATELY 25 YEARS OLD. IT APPEAR
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 28 M
- Nature of injury
- 4
- Part of body
- 3
- Event type
- 10
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 9
- Environmental factor
- 10
- Hazardous substance
- 2037
- Task assigned
- 2
-
#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.