105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #848440

BURN,FAN,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,FIRE,EQUIPMENT FAILURE,EXPLOSION,HEPTANE,SPARK,PULLEY

Event
BURN,FAN,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,FIRE,EQUIPMENT FAILURE,EXPLOSION,HEPTANE,SPARK,PULLEY
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
848440
Report ID
524200

Event description

Four employees sustain burns in heptane explosion

Investigation abstract

A base-line coating operation using heptane was being used to finish plastic lou vers for lighting. The pulley for the spray area's duct work fan came loose from the shaft. When the fan stopped operating, a build-up of vapors occurred in the duct. Eventually, the pulley slid completely off the shaft and was thrown out o f the duct tube, striking the duct wall and creating a spark and a resultant exp losion/fire. Employees #1, #2, and #3 were hospitalized and Employee #4 was inju red.

Victims (4)

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 25 M

    Nature of injury
    4
    Part of body
    2
    Event type
    14
    Source
    16
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    10
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 39 M

    Nature of injury
    4
    Part of body
    2
    Event type
    14
    Source
    16
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    10
    Task assigned
    1
  3. #3 Hospitalized Age 24 M

    Nature of injury
    4
    Part of body
    2
    Event type
    14
    Source
    16
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    10
    Task assigned
    1
  4. #4 Non-hospitalized injury Age 39 M

    Nature of injury
    20
    Part of body
    21
    Event type
    14
    Source
    46
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    18
    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.