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 #694737

SIGNALMAN,CHEMICAL BURN,PLUMBING,SULFURIC ACID,HYDRAULIC CRANE

Event
SIGNALMAN,CHEMICAL BURN,PLUMBING,SULFURIC ACID,HYDRAULIC CRANE
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
694737
Report ID
355115

Event description

EMPLOYEES INJURED BY RUPTURED SULFURIC ACID PIPE

Investigation abstract

At 3:00 p.m. on March 29, 1989, Employee #4 was signaling the crane operator of a 75 ton P & H hydraulic truck crane from the doorway of the third floor of the anhydrous car barn. Employees #1, 2 and 3 had walked out from the mezzanine leve l to get some fresh air. Old polyvinyl chloride pipe and scrap steel, 28 inches by 13 inches by 2 inches, on the roof of the anhydrous car barn fell approximate ly 25 to 30 feet, striking and rupturing a 4 inch cast iron line containing a 93 percent solution of sulfuric acid, releasing it. Employee #4 walked into the so lution. All employees received chemical burns. Employee #1 and #2 have not retur ned to work.

Victims (7)

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 31 M

    Nature of injury
    4
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    1
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    597
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    6
    Hazardous substance
    2310
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 32 M

    Nature of injury
    4
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    1
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    587
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    6
    Hazardous substance
    2310
    Task assigned
    1
  3. #3 Hospitalized Age 30 M

    Nature of injury
    4
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    1
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    597
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    6
    Hazardous substance
    2310
    Task assigned
    1
  4. #4 Hospitalized Age 42 M

    Nature of injury
    4
    Part of body
    11
    Event type
    1
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    585
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    6
    Hazardous substance
    2310
    Task assigned
    1
  5. #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
  6. #982 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
  7. #983 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.