OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #999375
BURN,VAPOR,FLAMMABLE VAPORS,WORK RULES,EXPLOSION,VACUUM VESSEL,REFINERY
Event description
EMPLOYEE KILLED WHEN FLAMMABLE VAPOR CLOUD WAS IGNITED
Investigation abstract
AT APPROXIMATELY 2:35 AM ON DECEMBER 15, 1987, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS UNLOADING SOME RE FINERY WASTE FROM A VACUUM TRUCK. WHILE HE WAS DRAINING THE WASTE FROM THE VACUU M TRUCK, A VAPOR CLOUD FORMED FROM THE LIGHT HYDROCARBON WASTE. THE VAPOR CLOUD WAS CARRIED DOWN-WIND BY AIR CURRENTS TO THE TRACTOR OF THE VACUUM TRUCK, WHERE IT WAS IGNITED. EMPLOYEE #1 SUFFERED THIRD DEGREE BURNS OVER 95% OF HIS BODY. HE DIED AFTER BEING HOSPITALIZED FOR APPROXIMATELY 12 HOURS.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 41 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 856
- Human factor
- 11
- 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.