OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #605634
CHARTER BUILDERS, INC.
ATLANTA, GA·
Event description
55 GALLON DRUM EXPLODED WHILE BEING CUT BY TORCH
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 INSTRUCTED EMPLOYEES #2 AND #3 TO GET SOME EMPTY 55 GALLON DRUMS FRO WALL. EMPLOYEES #2 AND #3 WERE TREATED AT A HOSPITAL AND RELEASED. THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED ON APRIL 24, 1986. EMPLOYEE #1 DIED ON MAY 31, 1986. THE DRUMS WERE CL EARLY MARKED (RED LABEL) TO SHOW THEY HAD PREVIOUSLY CONTAINED FLAMMABLE MATERIA LS. M AN ADJACENT JOB SITE. THE DRUMS WERE TO BE USED AS TRASH CONTAINERS. EMPLOYEES #2 AND #3 DELIVERED THE DRUMS TO THE YARD AREA BETWEEN COLUMNS NINE AND TEN. EM PLOYEE #2 TURNED AWAY AND BEGAN WATCHING EMPLOYEES WORKING AT THE ADJACENT JOB S ITE. EMPLOYEE #3 WAS TRYING TO GET A BUNG OUT OF A DRUM. HE NEEDED A TOOL, SO HE TURNED AND STARTED TO WALK AWAY. EMPLOYEE #1 ATTEMPTED TO CUT THE TOP OUT OF DR UM, USING AN OXYGEN AND ACETYLENE CUTTING TORCH. THE DRUM EXPLODED. EMPLOYEE #1 RECEIVED THIRD DEGREE BURNS OVER 60 PERCENT OF HIS BODY. EMPLOYEE RECEIVED FIRST AND SECOND DEGREE BURNS ON BOTH ARMS. EMPLOYEE #3 WAS THROWN AGAINST A CONCRETE
Victims (3)
-
#1 Fatality Age 44 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 554
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 2592
- Task assigned
- 2
-
#2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 24 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 2
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 869
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 2592
- Task assigned
- 2
-
#3 Non-hospitalized injury Age 19 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 21
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 869
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 2592
- 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.