Agriculture Injury Narrative: Laborer Burned Cutting 55-Gallon Drum When Leftover Fuel Explodes

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  A 34-year-old farm laborer was severely burned when he used a cut-off saw to cut into a sealed 55-gallon steel drum that contained residual fuel, causing the drum to explode. The incident happened during cleanup of property recently bought by the berry farm where the victim worked. The victim had worked on the farm for three years doing various kinds of farm labor. He and the other farm employees working on the cleanup were not doing their normal jobs. The property had a house, barn, and grounds that had been used as an informal junk yard. The employer planned to remodel the house and extend their berry production acreage. On the day of the incident, the victim and other employees were cleaning up garbage, old vehicles, and other debris. The foreman told the victim to load scrap metal onto a trailer to be taken to a dump. The victim found a sealed 55-gallon steel drum that he believed to be empty and decided to cut it in half to use as a container for small pieces of scrap metal. The victim picked up a cut-off saw owned by another worker and started to cut into the drum. A spark from the saw ignited residual diesel fuel inside the drum, causing the drum to explode. The resulting flash fire set his clothing on fire. Three workers responded and extinguished the flames after about 30 seconds. He received third-degree burns to 30% of his body. The previous workday, the foreman had looked inside the drum and found that there was as much as two gallons of leftover fuel in it. He placed it aside and told the workers in the area not to cut into it. The victim was not there that day and no one told him about the drum when he returned to work. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Accident Prevention
  • Accidents
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Air Pollutants, Occupational
  • Burns
  • Education
  • Environmental Exposure
  • Explosions
  • Farmers
  • Hazardous Substances
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Workers
  • Work environment
  • Protective equipment
  • Protective measures
  • Hazards
  • Traumatic injuries
  • Safety
  • Safety education
  • Safety measures
  • Safety practices
  More +
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20054507
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-177-2019, 2019 Jan; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Agriculture injury narrative: laborer burned cutting 55-gallon drum when leftover fuel explodes
• End Date:
  20260630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228911/cdc_228911_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 692.70 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:de94756f79195903096acebc81a7d83fbe83b38290b20cb8a4fcc4be00c8b81fe884b73adc9ebfc135ca4de8f6499e4409dea7ec77198f94acd2ec7a06b048f5