OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #998898
BURN,CLOTHING,PPE,HEATER,NATURAL GAS,EXPLOSION
Event description
EMPLOYEE BURNED IN AIR HANDLER UNIT EXPLOSION WHILE TESTING
Investigation abstract
ON AUGUST 7, 1987, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS TESTING A TDM SERIES, MODEL 200, INDIRECT FIR HE INSURANCE COMPANY FOUND NO PROBLEMS WITH THE EQUIPMENT. SAFETY GLASSES WERE W ORN AND PREVENTED SERIOUS EYE INJURY. ED SPACE HEATER. THE UNIT WAS CONNECTED FOR TESTING AND THE MAIN GAS VALVE HAD B EEN ON FOR TEN MINUTES. THE FLAME DROPPED OUT AND THE PILOT LIGHT STAYED LIT. HE OPENED THE PUFF DOOR ON THE HEAT CHAMBER. THE UNIT OPERATES ON .2 INCH NEGATIVE PRESSURE. THE GAS VALVE CONTINUED TO FEED NATURAL GAS INTO THE BURN CHAMBER. TH E ADDITIONAL AIR THAT WAS ADDED WHEN THE PUFF DOOR OPENED CAUSED A RAPID BURN OR EXPLOSION. THE EMPLOYEE SUFFERED 2ND DEGREE BURNS OVER 40% OF HIS BODY. EMPLOYE E #1 WAS WEARING A POLYESTER T-SHIRT THAT COTRIBUTED TO THE SEVERITY OF THE BURN S. THE FLAME WAS SET ON IN THE HIGH FIRE POSITION. AN OUTSIDE FIRM WORKING FOR T
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 26 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 23
- Occupation code
- 797
- Human factor
- 8
- 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.