OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #731208
ALBANY TOWN OF
ALBANY, IN·
Event description
TWO EMPLOYEES INJURED WHEN DIGESTER TANK EXPLODED
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1, A WELDER, WAS USING A GAS WELDING TORCH TO CUT MOUNTING HOLES FOR B OLTS IN A STEEL PLATE LOCATED ATOP AN IMHOFF DIGESTER TANK. THE TANK WAS USED TO PROCESS SEWAGE FROM THE TOWN OF ALBANY, INDIANA. EMPLOYEE #2, A LABORER, WAS AS SISTING. EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WERE KNOCKED BACK AWAY FROM THE WELDING AREA WHEN A SPARK FROM THE CUTTING OPERATION FELL AND IGNITED METHANE GAS IN THE DIGESTER T ANK. THE TANK BLEW UP, KNOCKING EMPLOYEE #2 TO THE GROUND. EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 W ERE ADMITTED TO THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT OF BALL MEMORIAL HOSPITAL IN MUNCIE, IND IANA.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 61 M
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 14
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 40
- Occupation code
- 783
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 15
- Hazardous substance
- 1640
- Task assigned
- 2
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 57 M
- Nature of injury
- 6
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 40
- Occupation code
- 869
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 15
- Hazardous substance
- 1640
- 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.