OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #775643
HEAD,FLAMMABLE LIQUID,WORK RULES,CONSTRUCTION,STORAGE TANK,SAW,EXPLOSION,SPARK,DECAPITATED,TANK
Event description
EMPLOYEE DECAPITATED BY TANK EXPLOSION
Investigation abstract
THREE FOREMEN WERE ASSIGNED BY THE COMPANY'S OWNER TO REMOVE TWO ABANDONED 6,000 WHICH TIME THE TANK RUPTURED, SPILLING ITS CONTENTS ON THE GROUND. THE TANK'S EN D STRUCK EMPLOYEE #1, DECAPITATING HIM. -GALLON-CAPACITY STORAGE TANKS APPROXIMATELY 28 FEET 10 INCHES LONG BY 6 FEET 2 INCHES DIAMETER FROM A PREVIOUS GASOLINE SERVICE STATION SITE. EMPLOYEES PULLED ONE TANK FROM THE GROUND AND DISCOVERED A LIQUID INSIDE. ATTEMPTS WERE MADE TO D RAIN THE LIQUID BUT IT COULD NOT DRAIN COMPLETELY BECAUSE THE 4-FOOT FILLER SPOU T WAS PREVENTING A COMPLETE TURNING. EMPLOYEE #1 AND THE OTHER WORKERS AGREED TO CUT OFF THE SPOUT WITH A GAS OPERATED CUT-OFF SAW, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD ALREADY DISCUSSED THE POSSIBILITY OF SPARKS IGNITING THE FUEL INSIDE THE TANK. ONE EMPL OYEE HAD CUT HALFWAY THROUGH THE SPOUT WHEN THE SPARKS IGNITED THE CONTENTS, AT
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 36 M
- Nature of injury
- 1
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 28
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 6
- Environmental factor
- 10
- 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.