Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1472357.015 - Innovative Ag Services Co.

Inspection Information - Office: Iowa 0751910

Investigation Summary

At 4:00 a.m. on April 6, 2020, an employee was working for a full-service farm cooperative. The employee worked in machinery maintenance. He was working on a field applicator toolbar. A toolbar is a piece of agricultural machinery used in the cultivation of crops. The toolbar in this incident was a Blu-Jet anhydrous ammonia field fertilizer applicator toolbar. It applied anhydrous ammonia fertilizer onto fields. In the field, the system operated by emptying anhydrous ammonia out onto rotating knives that dug into the soil. The employee had shut down the vehicle. He disconnected the ammonia supply line. He opened the supply line bleeder valve. He checked the pressure level. He verified that no frost was present. He waited for a period. The next step was loosening the back plate on the field applicator toolbar's ammonia cooler. He removed the four plate bolts, removed the bleeder line, and verified that no ammonia was present. He applied a pry bar to the top of the cooler to pry open the cooler's back plate. At that point, he detected a whiff of ammonia. The employee stopped what he was doing and noticed frost on his groin and upper left leg. He removed his PPE and clothing and flushed the affected area with water. He had suffered first-degree chemical burns to his upper left leg and a second-degree chemical burn to his groin from the anhydrous ammonia spray. He was hospitalized. When anhydrous ammonia transitions from a liquid state to a vapor, it expands 850-fold. The expansion is accompanied by rapid cooling.

Keywords: Agriculture, Agriculture Machinery/Vehicle, Ammonia, Anhydrous Ammonia, Burn, Chemical, Chemical Burn, Groin, Leg, Maintenance, Repair, Servicing