OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14542641
CERTAINEED CORP
CHAMBLEE, GA—
Event description
PROPANE HEATER EXPLODED WHEN EMPLOYEES TRIED TO RELIGHT IT
Investigation abstract
A NON-FLAMMABLE, WATER-BASED GLUE WAS KEPT IN A TRAILER. WHEN THE TEMPERATURE AP PROACHED THE FREEZING POINT A PROPANE HEATER WAS USED TO KEEP THE GLUE WARM. THE TRAILER WAS RELATIVELY AIR TIGHT. FOR SOME REASON, THE FLAME WENT OUT. THE SAFE TY SWITCH HAD BEEN TAPED IN THE "OFF" POSITION, SO THAT THE THERMOCOUPLE WAS EFF ECTIVELY BYPASSED, AND GAS CONTINUED TO FLOW. WHEN EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 SAW THAT THE FLAME HAD GONE OUT, THEY IMMEDIATELY TRIED TO RESTART IT. AN EXPLOSION AND E NSUING FLASH FIRE RESULTED, SEVERELY BURNING BOTH EMPLOYEES. SEVEN DAYS LATER, B OTH EMPLOYEES WERE STILL ALIVE, BUT THE PROGNOSIS FOR EMPLOYEE #1 IS NOT GOOD.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 39 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 9
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 2150
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 25 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 9
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 2150
- 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.