OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #825109
WESTVACO CORPORATION FINE PAPERS DIVISION
LUKE, MD·
Event description
Employee killed as pulp storage tank collapses
Investigation abstract
At approximately 3:00 p.m. on January 30, 1987, Employee #1, an assistant pulp m bottom, leaning against two other tanks known as silos #2 and #3. Employee #1 ha s been in the compartment in the base of the tank when it collapsed. The enginee r, the pulp mill tour foreman, and a staffer were able to see his head and hand. Employee #1 was lying face down, pinned under the tank and covered with debris. A crane was used to lift the tank and Employee #1 was removed and pronounced de ad at the scene by a plant physician. Compression from the weight had buckled th e metal tank like an accordion around the base, which was weak because the botto m six inches of it were corroded. The tank was coated with an epoxy type finish and looked as though it were in good condition. It contained 125,000 gallon of p ulp slurry weighing 1,100,000 lb. The tank was designed and constructed by Chica ill superintendent, and a paper mill engineer calculated that the Nucel tank was go Bridge and Iron, Hinsdale, IL, to carry between three and four times that muc h weight. The 25 ft diameter and 60 ft 15/32 in. high and originally 3/8 in. thi ck tank had been in use since 1960. just about full of pulp slurry. The engineer tried several times to start the p ump underneath the tank without success. He noticed that the tank had begun to o verflow and ran to the hydropulper unit to shut off the pumps that were pumping the pulp slurry into the tank. Shortly after 3:00 p.m., a pulp mill tour foreman , in the alley adjacent to the Nucel tank, heard a rumble and saw steam come out around the tank. The engineer ran back to the tank and saw that it had collapse d. The tank had come down approximately 7 ft and was resting on its cone-shaped
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 31 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 17
- Occupation code
- 756
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 18
- Task assigned
- 1
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