OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #689943
HEART,WORK RULES,RUPTURE,HIGH PRESSURE,TANK
Event description
TANK RUPTURED, KILLING EMPLOYEE ON TOP
Investigation abstract
SOMETIME AFTER 11 AM ON NOVEMBER 28, 1986, EMPLOYEE #1, A SUPERVISOR FOR MAINTEN URED AORTA. ANCE AND CONSTRUCTION AT THE PLANT, DIRECTED THE PRESSURIZATION OF A STAINLESS S TEEL TANK NOT DESIGNED OR CONSTRUCTED TO BE PRESSURIZED. THE TANK WAS 8 1/2 TO 9 FEET HIGH AND 10 FEET IN DIAMETER. EMPLOYEE #1'S PURPOSE WAS TO POP OUT DENTS I N THE ROOF OF THE TANK. EMPLOYEE #1 CAUTIONED TWO OTHER STAFF MEMBERS OF THE DAN GERS OF THIS PROCEDURE. THEN, WITH THE TANK PRESSURIZED TO TWENTY POUNDS, EMPLOY EE #1 CLIMBED TO THE TOP OF THE TANK AND STRUCK THE ROOF TWICE WITH A SLEDGE HAM MER. THE ENTIRE TOP OF THE TANK RUPTURED, FLYING INTO THE AIR AND THROWING EMPLO YEE #1 A DISTANCE OF ABOUT 50 FEET. THE CAUSE OF DEATH OF EMPLOYEE #1 WAS A RUPT
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 33 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 5
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 2
- Occupation code
- 503
- Human factor
- 10
- Environmental factor
- 15
- 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.