OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #758326

AMOCO OIL COMPANY WHITING REFINERY

WHITING, IN· 1988-04-15T00:00:00

Event: FLAMMABLE VAPORS, TOLUENE, EXPLOSION, BURN, FIRE, FRACTURE, MAINTENANCE, MEK, REFINERY, CUTTING AND BURNING
NAICS: 000000
Inspection type: Accident-driven
Activity number: #104003298
Employer profile: AMOCO OIL COMPANY WHITING REFINERY
Summary number: 758326
Report ID: 551800

Event description

Employees burned in filter unit explosion

Investigation abstract

At approximately 12:36 p.m. on April 15, 1988, employees of Amoco Oil Company, C r unit, which resulted in an explosion. Employees #1 through #17 and #19 through #22 sustained disabling injuries, second- and third-degree burns, fractures to arms and legs, and abrasions. Employees #19, #20, #21, and #22 were hospitalized with second- and third-degree burns. onsolidated Fabricators and Constructors, Inc., Viking Engineering Company, and PDQ Company were performing maintenance on the MEK dewaxing unit in the Amoco Oi l Refinery. Employees #19 through #23 were removing steel deck plate from the fa cility and installing steel grate flooring using air arc equipment. The flammabl e material inside the filter unit had not been fully purged before the cutting a nd welding was performed. The filter units contained wax removed from waxy oil t hat was processed through the G-3 filter unit. The wax contained MEK and toluene . The welding and cutting operations ignited flammable vapors from the G-3 filte

Victims (21)

#1 Non-hospitalized injury Age 42 M

Nature of injury
3

Part of body
19

Event type
1

Source
43

Occupation code
519

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
5

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#10 Non-hospitalized injury Age 61 M

Nature of injury
12

Part of body
19

Event type
1

Source
43

Occupation code
637

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
5

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#11 Non-hospitalized injury Age 32 M

Nature of injury
17

Part of body
28

Event type
8

Source
44

Occupation code
519

Human factor
18

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#12 Non-hospitalized injury Age 39 M

Nature of injury
3

Part of body
13

Event type
1

Source
43

Occupation code
864

Human factor
18

Environmental factor
5

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#13 Non-hospitalized injury Age 40 M

Nature of injury
17

Part of body
28

Event type
8

Source
44

Occupation code
519

Human factor
18

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#14 Non-hospitalized injury Age 37 M

Nature of injury
3

Part of body
15

Event type
1

Source
43

Occupation code
519

Human factor
18

Environmental factor
5

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#15 Non-hospitalized injury Age 23 M

Nature of injury
17

Part of body
28

Event type
8

Source
44

Occupation code
864

Human factor
18

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#16 Non-hospitalized injury Age 32 M

Nature of injury
11

Part of body
8

Event type
14

Source
12

Occupation code
519

Human factor
18

Environmental factor
5

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#17 Non-hospitalized injury Age 30 M

Nature of injury
3

Part of body
19

Event type
1

Source
43

Occupation code
519

Human factor
18

Environmental factor
5

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#18 Non-hospitalized injury Age 39 M

Nature of injury
7

Part of body
11

Event type
1

Source
19

Occupation code
519

Human factor
14

Environmental factor
5

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#19 Hospitalized Age 52 M

Nature of injury
5

Part of body
9

Event type
10

Source
16

Occupation code
643

Human factor
18

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
2
#2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 38 M

Nature of injury
12

Part of body
10

Event type
1

Source
43

Occupation code
519

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
5

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#20 Hospitalized Age 28 M

Nature of injury
5

Part of body
9

Event type
10

Source
16

Occupation code
643

Human factor
18

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
2
#3 Non-hospitalized injury Age 46 M

Nature of injury
3

Part of body
13

Event type
1

Source
43

Occupation code
519

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
5

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#4 Non-hospitalized injury Age 46 F

Nature of injury
3

Part of body
19

Event type
1

Source
43

Occupation code
519

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
5

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#5 Non-hospitalized injury Age 56 M

Nature of injury
3

Part of body
19

Event type
1

Source
43

Occupation code
519

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
5

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#6 Non-hospitalized injury Age 39 M

Nature of injury
17

Part of body
28

Event type
8

Source
47

Occupation code
519

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#7 Non-hospitalized injury Age 33 M

Nature of injury
17

Part of body
28

Event type
8

Source
44

Occupation code
519

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#8 Non-hospitalized injury Age 44 M

Nature of injury
3

Part of body
19

Event type
1

Source
43

Occupation code
637

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
5

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#9 Non-hospitalized injury Age 31 M

Nature of injury
3

Part of body
19

Event type
1

Source
43

Occupation code
519

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
5

Hazardous substance
8880

Task assigned
1
#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

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.