OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14563407

S&W CHEMICALS INC

CONOVER, NC— 1985-07-10T06:15:00

Event: BURN, CLOTHING, E GI V, ELEC INSULATION, ELECTRICAL, FLAMMABLE VAPORS, FIRE, BACK, EXPLOSION, ELECTRIC CORD
NAICS: 000000
Inspection type: Accident-driven
Activity number: #15007446
Employer profile: S&W CHEMICALS INC
Summary number: 14563407
Report ID: 453710

Event description

EXPLOSION - DIETHYLAMINE VAPORS IGNITED BY ELECTRIC ARC

Investigation abstract

AN EMPLOYEE WAS PREPARING BNC CONCENTRATE IN A MIXING ROOM. AS HE WAS ADDING 40 GALLONS OF DIETHYLAMINE (A FLAMMABLE LIQUID), A SPARK FROM A POORLY INSULATED EL ECTRIC CORD IGNITED THE VAPOR. THE EMPLOYEE SUFFERED FIRST AND SECOND DEGREE BUR NS TO HIS BACK AND ARMS FROM THE FIRE.

Victim

#1 Hospitalized Age 42 M

Nature of injury
5

Part of body
3

Event type
14

Source
16

Occupation code
19

Human factor
6

Environmental factor
10

Hazardous substance
0910

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.