Inspection Detail

Inspection: 119825016 - Airgas West

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Inspection Nr: 119825016

Report ID: 0950642

Date Opened: 11/30/2000

Site Address:
Airgas West
11711 S Alameda St
Los Angeles, CA 90059

Mailing Address:
4007 Paramount Bl # 100, Lakewood, CA 90712

Union Status: NonUnion

SIC:2813

NAICS: 0

Inspection Type: Accident

Scope: Partial

Advanced Notice: N

Ownership: Private

Safety/Health: Safety

Close Conference: 05/11/2001

Planning Guide: Safety-Manufacturing

Emphasis:

Case Closed: 04/09/2005

Related Activity
Type	Activity Nr	Safety	Health
Accident	362613374

Violation Summary
Violations/Penalties	Serious	Willful	Repeat	Other	Unclass	Total
Initial Violations				4		4
Current Violations				4		4
Initial Penalty	$0	$0	$0	$1,495	$0	$1,495
Current Penalty	$0	$0	$0	$1,160	$0	$1,160
FTA Penalty	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0

Violation Items
#	Citation ID	Citation Type	Standard Cited	Issuance Date	Abatement Due Date	Current Penalty	Initial Penalty	FTA Penalty	Contest	Latest Event
1.	01001	Other	3310 A	05/11/2001	06/13/2001	$0	$335	$0	07/16/2001	F - Formal Settlement
2.	01002	Other	3328 A	05/11/2001	06/13/2001	$335	$335	$0	07/16/2001	F - Formal Settlement
3.	01003	Other	5507 A	05/11/2001	06/13/2001	$600	$600	$0	07/16/2001	F - Formal Settlement
4.	01004	Other	5507 F	05/11/2001	06/13/2001	$225	$225	$0		-

Investigation Summary

Investigation Nr: 201054830

Event: 11/17/2000

Employee Is Burned in Explosion

At approximately 2:26 p.m. on November 17, 2000, Employee #1 had begun to fill "E" size medical oxygen cylinders using the east section of the manifold at the medical oxygen filling area. At approximately 2:00 p.m., Employee #1 shut off the oxygen pump #2 because cylinders were getting hot. While he was waiting for the cylinders to cool off, Employee #1 removed old labels from the cylinders on the bottom rack and noticed that the temperature of a cylinder was increasing instead of decreasing. Employee #1 checked the pressure on the manifold system and realized that the pressure was increasing even though the pump #2 was turned off. Then, Employee #1 tried to close the fill valve and to open the vent valve to control the pressure. There was a lot of hissing sound coming from the manifold and Employee #1 noticed the manifold pressure was reaching 3,100 p.s.i. As Employee #1 was trying to get away from the manifold system; there was an explosion. Employee #1 was on fire and kept moving away from the manifold when another employee came over to help put out the fire. Employee #1 was transported to the Martin Luther King Hospital by the paramedics and then was transferred to UCI Medical Center and hospitalized for ten to eleven days.

Keywords: BURN, OXYGEN, CYLINDER, EXPLOSION, OVERHEATED

Investigated Inspection
#	Inspection	Age	Sex	Degree of Injury	Nature of Injury	Occupation
1	119825016			Hospitalized injury	Burn/Scald(Heat)	Packaging and filling machine operators

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