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 #671602

BURN,VAPOR,ALCOHOL,FLAMMABLE LIQUID,CLEANING,FIRE,SKIN

Event
BURN,VAPOR,ALCOHOL,FLAMMABLE LIQUID,CLEANING,FIRE,SKIN
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
671602
Report ID
551800

Event description

EMPLOYEE BURNED BY FIRE FROM ALCOHOL USED AS CLEANING AGENT

Investigation abstract

At 10:00 a.m. on April 2, 1989, Employee #1 was pouring alcohol from a galvanize 1 was transported by ambulance to Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes, Indiana, and later transported from there to the Wishard Hospital burn unit in Indianapo lis, Indiana. d bucket into another galvanized bucket containing wire dies that had been previ ously soaking for two hours at a temperature of approximately 150 degrees Fahren heit. The hot wire dies heated the alcohol in the bucket to the boiling point, c ausing the bucket to emit smoke and vapors. During the pouring cycle, alcohol or alcohol vapors came in contact with an open heating element nearby and ignited. Employee #1 was startled and splashed alcohol from the pouring bucket over her clothing and body. This alcohol also ignited, and caused second and third degree burns over fifty percent of her body. The fire was extinguished, and Employee #

Victim

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 51 F

    Nature of injury
    4
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    14
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    795
    Human factor
    6
    Environmental factor
    10
    Hazardous substance
    1560
    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.