Abstract: Employee #1, a utility helper in the bleach plant of a paper mill, was unloading a railroad hopper car filled with dry sodium chlorate. Two 4 in. diameter hoses, one an inlet hose and one an outlet hose, were hooked up to the bottom of the hopper car. Hot water at 210 degrees F was being pumped through the inlet hose to fill the tank above the level of the sodium chlorate crystals. The material would then dissolve and the resulting sodium chlorate solution would be pumped out. Four 32 in. diameter dome covers were open on top of the railroad car so Employee #1 could look into the tank with his flashlight to make sure the crystals were dissolving and to check the level of the liquid. Employee #1 stepped or fell through one of the openings, landing in the 180 to 200 degrees F sodium chlorate solution. He was killed. There were no eyewitnesses to the accident..