Inspection Detail

Inspection: 126091339 - Spartech Plastics

Inspection Information - Office: Monrovia District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 2:30 a.m. on May 11, 2003, Employee #1 and a coworker cleaning the feed pipe for the Line No. 10 4.5 Wellex Extruder. The Line No. 10 had been shutdown for cleaning for about 16 hours prior to the incident. During that time the plastic resin in the feed pipes hardened so it was necessary to heat the feed pipe to the point that the plastic would flow out of the pipe. There were four heaters in the feed pipe, each pipe heater is controlled by a thermocouple that turns the heater on and off and each section has a digital temperature gauge. Early in the cleaning process the feed pipe was disconnected from the feed box adapter and the thermocouple had been removed from the bottom section of the feed pipe. Employee #1 did not notice that the thermocouple had been disconnected when he turned on the heaters to melt the solidified plastic in the pipe. The coworker said while he and Employee #1 were waiting for the plastic to soften they were installing other parts on the Line No. 10 Extruder. About 30 minutes later, the coworker said that Employee #1 was using a pair of pliers to pull out the softened plastic plug at the bottom of the feed pipe, when hot plastic sprayed out of the feed. The coworker was not injured and was approximately 2 ft away and some of the hot plastic landed on his long sleeved shirt and he quickly removed it. The hot plastic splashed on Employee #1, causing second and third degree burns. Employee #1 was not wearing the required personal protective equipment at the time of the incident. The employer had experienced a similar accident a few months ago and developed a procedure, provided training, and required the use of PPE when cleaning the feed pipe. Because the thermocouple had been disconnected, the heater did not shut off and the temperature gauge for that section indicated the room temperature not the pipe temperature. Employee said he checked the temperature gauge for the bottom section of the feed pipe, but did not check the other three feed pipe gauges. The three other temperature gauges would have given a better indication of the temperature in the bottom section of the pipe. Employee #1 stated that he was not wearing PPE, because he was just standing next to the feed pipe when the hot plastic sprayed out of the pipe. Employee #1 was hospitalized and treated for second-degree and third-degree burns to his left forearm and hand.

Keywords: BURN, PIPE PLUG, PPE, HEATER, CLEANING, RUPTURE, ARM, HAND