OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #768663
LEAK,OXYGEN,ACETYLENE TORCH,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,FIRE,TORCH
Event description
ONE KILLED AND ONE INJURED IN VEGETABLE OIL EXPLOSION
Investigation abstract
Two employees were cutting four bolts off a value flange on a vegetable oil line safe and isolated prior to cutting into it. in a food processing plant using an oxygen and acetylene torch. Employees #1 an d #2 thought the line was isolated and depressurized, but oil had just pumped th rough the line that was filled with 60-80 lbs of air pressure to blow the oil re sidue out of the line. As they cut off the third bolt, the line began to leak an oil mist. Employees #1 and #2 were enveloped by the mist when the torch ignited the mist resulting in a 40-ft fire ball. Employee #1 was burned over 100 percen t of his body and died several hours later. Employee #2 was burned over 50 perce nt of his body and was hospitalized. Neither employee verified that the line was
Victims (2)
-
#1 Fatality Age 33 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 40 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 7
- 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.