Accident: 126081330 - Injured While Fighting Fire

At approximately 2:15 a.m. on October 29, 2000, Employee #1, a Los Angeles County fire captain with 23 years of experience, and three coworkers were fighting a fire that had started at approximately 1:30 a.m. at a glass retailer in Whittier, CA. The crew entered the building from the front, which had not yet burned, and were wetting the areas before them as they advanced into the burning building. A coworker was between 2 and 3 ft away from Employee #1, helping him hose down small fires. The coworker glanced at Employee #1 every 20 to 30 seconds to maintain eye contact, and then saw that he had fallen through the floor and into the basement. Employee #1 sustained second- and third-degree burns on his chest, back, and legs, and soft tissue injuries to his back; he also suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning and lactic acidosis. These injuries resulted from exposure to the fire, smoke inhalation, and the fall through the floor into the basement. Apparently, the men had advanced along a walkway to an attached house. Employee #1 later stated that he thought he was standing on ground level and did not realize there was a basement. Normal procedures call for sounding roofs only. Employee #1 did not sound the floor and thought he was on solid ground. Apparently the floor was suffering from dry rot. The fire department's investigation indicated that the floor had collapsed from beneath Employee #1. Further investigation revealed that the ground sloped down from the front of the building, a fact that was not readily apparent from the street or from the front of the building.

fire, fire fighter, burn, smoke inhalation, work surface, collapse, carbon monoxide, back, fall

Accident: 801209 - Dies Of Smoke Inhalation And Burns

Employee #1 was operating heavy equipment to clear land when an employee of another company rode by and saw Employee #1 on fire. He stopped, administered first aid, and called 911. Employee #1 died of smoke inhalation and severe burns. There were no other employees nearby, and there were no burn marks on any of the equipment.

construction, burn, fire, smoke inhalation, inhalation, earthmoving equip, equipment operator, smoke

Accident: 101950384 - Burned In Natural Gas Explosion

Employee #1, a bakery worker, was attempting to re-light a gas oven when there was a gas explosion. She was hospitalized with extensive burns.

fire, vapor, explosion, burn, oven, methane, flammable vapors

Accident: 14534358 - Electric Shock - Contact With Overhead Line

A bus washer had cleaned a bus and had driven it to a parking area at a touring company's bus compound. He was parking the bus between a van and another bus near a utility pole. As he was backing the bus, it ran over the guy for the pole. The utility pole moved, and one of the phase conductors of an overhead power line supported by the pole broke. The conductor started a fire when it hit the ground. The bus washer was electrocuted as he tried to extinguish the fire with a wooden stick.

electrical, electrocuted, overhead power line, guy, fire, untrained, e gi iii

Accident: 14318786 - Six Employees Injured In Explosion Of Plastic Fines

At approximately 1:00 p.m. on June 12, 2000, Employees #1 through #6 were transferring a mixture of plastic fines and lubricants.; the additives were explosive when in a suspended state, as per the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). This transfer was performed by dumping the mixture from the mixer into a series of screw conveyors and then dropping the mixture from the top conveyor into a large metal silo. The transfer was approximately 75 percent complete when there was a small explosion in the #3 silo. The explosion shook the entire building and suspended large quantities of dust into the air. This dust then ignited and produced a large but quick dust explosion. The explosion blew out the walls and 50 percent of the roof. All of the six silos were damaged. Employees #1 through #6 sustained injuries ranging from first-, second-, and third-degree burns to shock, and Employees #1 through #3 were hospitalized overnight. The building was not designed as a Class 2, Division 1 location. None of the covers were dust tight, and there were no fire dams (chokes) to prevent the fire and explosion from spreading to other parts of the facility.

explosion, plastic mfg, silo, chemical reaction, burn, combustible dust, work rules, fire, explosive mixing

Accident: 170388532 - Injured In Explosion At Aluminum Melting Furnace

Employee #1 was instructed by his supervisor to use a Bobcat loader to add 900 lb of silicon into the #2 aluminum melting furnace. Employee #1 had dumped in two buckets when an explosion occurred that ignited his clothing and the Bobcat. Employee #1 sustained injuries, for which he was hospitalized. The explosion was triggered by standing water that had pooled on the floor in the silicon area due to major leaks in the roof.

front end loader, fire, aluminum processing, inadequate maint, chemical reaction, explosion, melting furnace, water, chemical, work rules

Accident: 100352616 - Dies Of Burns Sustained In Brush Fire

On May 5, 2000, Employee #1 and a coworker were burning off a brush pile accumulated from the clearing of a plot of land prior to the construction of a building. The brush was placed in a 12 ft high by 30 ft long pile aligned north-northeast by south-southwest in a clearing in the woods with an access road coming in from the south. Several attempts to ignite the pile had failed, and the employees had gone to lunch. When they returned, they hired a fuel oil truck from Liberty Oil Company to pump diesel fuel on the brush pile. Employee #1 stood above the pile in the bucket of a Caterpillar 963B track loader, spraying fuel on the brush pile, portions of which were smoldering from previous attempts to light it. He placed his finger over the nozzle when spraying to reach a further range, and was probably getting hit by back spray at the same time and getting soaked with fuel. In time, the correct fuel-to-air mixture was reached, with the smoldering portion serving as the ignition source, resulting in an explosion and fire that ignited Employee #1's clothing. There was no fire suppression equipment on site, and the track loader did not have a fire extinguisher. Employee #1 leaped from the bucket and rolled on the ground to extinguish himself, but to no avail. His coworkers tried to help, but Employee #1 had to run to a ditch filled with muddy water to put it out. He was evacuated to the hospital with burns over 72 percent of his body; he died on May 13, 2000.

construction, fire, fuel oil, explosion, burn, work rules, flammable liquid, flammable vapors, fire extinguisher