Abstract: At approximately 12:00 p.m. on November 1, 2005, Employee #1, a maintenance technician, was performing routine maintenance on a tank, which included the replacement of the tank's fusible link and cable system. As he was located on top of the tank, placing a self-tapping screw into position, a coworker began speaking with him and he forgot to clean the surface of the tank. He then began drilling on the tank, causing metal shavings to fall onto the surface of the tank. Flames began to appear and Employee #1 attempted to extinguish the flames with his bare hands, but was unsuccessful, catching fire himself. The flames began to spread across the surface of the tank toward the open tank lid, causing an explosion to occur. Employee #1 jumped down off of the tank and ran out of the area. Coworkers came to Employee #1's aid and extinguished the flames from him body. Employee #1 was hospitalized and treated for severe thermal burns on his face, neck, hands, and forearms. The accident investigation revealed that the dust residue on the surface of the tank contained dry nitrocellulose, which was ignited by the falling hot metal shavings. The solvent vapors produced from within the open tank caused the large flash (explosion) to occur.