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 #709006

BURN,FURNACE,FIRE,MOLTEN METAL

Event
BURN,FURNACE,FIRE,MOLTEN METAL
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
709006
Report ID
854910

Event description

MOLTEN METAL SPLASHED ON EMPLOYEE, BURNING HIM

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1, THE FIRST HELPER AND FURNACE OPERATOR, WAS WORKING ON THE SIDE OF A HEN BREAK LOOSE. THIS IS CALLED A "TURN OVER", WHICH CAUSES MOLTEN METAL TO BE S PLASHED OUT OF THE FURNACE. N OPEN HEARTH FURNACE WHEN THE MOLTEN METAL STARTED TO RUN OUT OF THE FURNACE. T HE FURNACE DOOR WAS RAISED APPROXIMATELY 20 INCHES. EMPLOYEE #1 ATTEMPTED TO STO P THE RUN BY RAISING THE BANK JUST INSIDE THE FURNACE DOOR. THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHE D BY SHOVELING DOLOMITE ONTO THE BANK. WHILE EMPLOYEE #1 WAS BUILDING UP THE BAN K A "TURN OVER" OCCURRED. MOLTEN METAL WAS BLOWN OUT OF THE FURANCE ONTO EMPLOYE E #1, SETTING HIS CLOTHING ON FIRE AND ENGULFING HIM IN FLAMES. THE FURNACES ARE FIRST CHARGED WITH LIMESTONE, THEN BARTH ORE, SCRAP METAL, AND FINALLY, MOLTEN METAL. OCCASIONALLY THE "FINES" IN THE ORE WILL FORM A CRUST ON THE LIMESTONE, T

Victim

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 58 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    1
    Source
    43
    Occupation code
    766
    Human factor
    20
    Environmental factor
    18
    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.