Inspection Detail

Inspection: 310170584 - Midwest Generation, Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Chicago South Area Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 3:00 p.m. on September 12, 2006, Employees #1, #2, and #3 were working at a coal mill. The three employees, along with a shift superintendent/engineer, were preparing the coal mills to be "washed down." All eight mills had shut down because they were plugged by wet coal. The employees were removing the mill access doors on seven of the eight mills, which were designated A through H. The employees had removed the doors from mills H, G, E and were removing the door from mill D, when a coal dust explosion occurred. They had not removed the door on mill F, because the temperature gauge in the control room indicated excessive heat. The two employees closest to the explosion were seriously injured, and they were hospitalized. One employee's left leg had to be amputated, and another employee had to go through numerous skin graft surgeries. The third employee was treated for a broken toe and released that same evening. Technical instruction WIL-T21000 provided specific instructions on the sequence to be used when preparing to "wash down" the mills, but those instructions were not followed. Two of the employees had been with the company for less than six months and had never worked in the area prior to the day of the incident. In addition, they had not been made aware of the procedures.

Keywords: BURN, FRACTURE, AMPUTATED, COAL DUST, WORK RULES, MILLING MACHINE, EXPLOSION, INEXPERIENCE, UNTRAINED, HIGH TEMPERATURE