Abstract: At approximately 6:45 a.m. on March 18, 2009, Employee #1 was cleaning out a 100 gallon chemical reactor in preparation to mix a new batch of adhesive. He was standing on a 6 ft step ladder reaching into the open reactor vessel with his arm up to his shoulder. He was dumping a nonflammable chemical from a 1 gallon metal container into the reactor vessel, to rinse out the remaining cleaning chemical, also nonflammable. The vessel had a jacket of oil around it which was heated by an external heater. A thermocouple showed that the inside temperature was approximately 290 degrees, which did not exceed the flashpoints of either nonflammable chemicals involved. He was wearing a polyester-cotton blend uniform, and a cotton t-shirt. His hands were protected by three layered gloves, two thermal and one rubber. While performing a third rinse with the can, a flash fire occurred inside the vessel. He received second and third degree burns to his face, shoulder and arm. Employee #1 was hospitalized.