OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #994749
BURN,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,BACK,EXPLOSION,ARM,FACE
Event description
EMPLOYEES INJURED WHEN FLAMMABLE FUMES IGNITED
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WERE WORKING AROUND A TROY AUTOMATIC 200 POUND WASHING MACHI NE. EMPLOYEE #1 PLACED WIPE-CLOTHS FROM A PRINTING COMPANY INTO THE WASHER, RINS ED THE CLOTH ONE TIME THEN BEGAN FILLING THE WASHER WITH HOT WATER. THE HOT WATE R CAUSED FUMES (NAPTHA, MINERAL SPIRITS, INK) TO RISE FROM THE CLOTH. THESE STRO NG FUMES CONVINCED EMPLOYEE #2 TO GO TO THE WINDOW BEHIND THE WASHER TO LET IN S OME FRESH AIR. THE EMPLOYEES SUDDENLY FELT THAT SOMETHING WAS WRONG AND STARTED RUNNING FOR THE LARGE OVERHEAD DOOR. AN EXPLOSIVE OCCURED, APPARENTLY DUE TO THE PILOT LIGHT IN AN OVERHEAD HEATER IGNITING THE FUMES FROM THE WASHER. BOTH EMPL OYEES WERE BURNED ON THE FACE, ARMS AND BACK.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 34 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 41 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Task assigned
- 2
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.