Fire While Fueling

Added: September 2002

NCAR Safety Committee Lessons Learned

Date: 09 Jun 1995

Two individuals received slight head lacerations when they were "thrown" from their seats while on-board a plane when the plane encountered some unexpected turbulance. The lesson learned, whether on a plane or in a car, is to utilize seat belts whenever possible. Most folks observe this precaution in cars but it might be worthwhile to remind those involved in air travel that they too should remain buckled up when at all possible.

Date: 14 Aug 1995

An employee recently injured a ring finger and had to have the ring cut-off when swelling ensued. One lesson to be gleaned from this situation is to leave all those diamond rings, ruby bracelets, gold chains, silver necklaces, and Rolex watches at home away from scratchy, grabby, catching type things least you loose both the jewelry and the finger.

Date: 25 Apr 1996

What Happened: One happy and innocent day an unsuspecting UCAR employee was genially performing a routine but most important task. It involved pouring chemicals into a vat of potentially toxic boiling dimethyl meat loaf. The heretofore mentioned chemicals splashed into the individual's visual sensing mechanism (eye). The temporarily incapacitated individual was rushed to the local infirmary for treatment. The treatment was successful, the individual released and thankfully with no long lasting ill effects (take it from a one eyed safety manager, he should be really thankful).

What didn't go right: Chemicals will splash, both at work and at home. That is a fact of life, ergo, we should always wear eye protection. In this case none was worn!

Conclusion: Sight is to precious to loose. Take it from someone who only see's half the world at a time which may explain my cockeyed outlook on life or at least my bad putting. Protective eye wear should always be worn when handling any chemicals, be they "beasel nut oil" (from Dr. Seuss), toxic dimethyl meat loaf or garden variety chemicals. For work related hazards, UCAR will provide safety glasses, goggles, face shields etc.and AT NO COST. What a deal, if you don't know how to obtain safety glasses, see Ginger x-8555 or Steve x-8550 for details.

Date: 17 Sep 1996

Last night (Monday, September 16) an office lamp caught on fire at the Mesa Lab. The damage was minimal thanks to the quick thinking reactions of an alert employee. The cause of the spontaneously combustible orb appears to have been the use of an excessively high watt light bulb. The heat generated by the bulb melted the plastic socket causing an arc which resulted in the ensuing flame, fire and destruction (actually there was minimal destruction, I just got carried away with the prose).

This particular lamp was a relic, over 20 years old, and did not have any caution/warning labels that are now found on newer lamps. If you have any old relics around your office (other than your office mate) you may want to call maintenance x-1120 and have them (the lamp and bulb only) checked out. This incident serves as an excellent reminder that when replacing light bulbs make darn sure they are properly rated for the lamps in which they are used.

Date: 18 Nov 1996

Hi folks, here are a few "lessons learned" resulting from some recent accidents and near misses. Please review each of these, add, modify, delete etc. as necessary and pass along to the folks in your programs or divisions.

1. Slips, trips and falls: We've had about 1/2 dozen slips, trips and falls within the last few weeks. Injuries have varied from severe facial lacerations to broken bones and torn muscles. It is very important to take your time going where you are going and too make sure that you wear shoes appropriate for the conditions. While they may not be fashion statements, its important to wear shoes with treads for snow and ice, and if you're worried about looks, well, they look a heck of a lot better than a walking cast.

2. Trash: One individual was nearly stuck by a hypodermic needle carelessly discarded in the trash. Later we found several needles similarly discarded. Please don't throw anything in the trash that you wouldn't mind sticking your own hand into. This includes all sharp objects, broken glass, razor blades, needles, sharp metal shavings etc. If you must discard these items, please wrap them in secondary, impermeable containers or tape them up. If you're not sure how to discard something, call Dean Lindstrom at x-1141.

Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997

A new employee recently received serious chemical burns while attempting to fill a liquid nitrogen container. Liquid nitrogen is a cryogenic material (extremely cold) and causes severe blistering when in contact with the skin.

A couple of lessons were learned from this incident. First, new employees require close supervision when performing hazardous operations or working with hazardous materials. The employee had been advised of the hazards of liquid nitrogen but was performing the operation for the first time. A wrong valve was opened (there were multiple valves to choose from) and liquid nitrogen spewed out of the container onto the employee.

Second, the employee was not wearing proper safety equipment such as face shield and/or eye protection, gloves or a lab coat. UCAR provides all necessary safety equipment, at no cost, to all employees. Employees should contact their supervisors or SASS to determine what safety equipment is required or to obtain said safety equipment.

Safety committee representatives are asked to process the above information, and as appropriate, share it with your division or program.

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997

Recently, a heretofore otherwise agile and healthy employee suffered severe injuries by falling off of a make shift footstool and breaking a rib. The make shift footstool in this case was an inverted pail, which pales (nice play on words huh!)in comparison to other seemingly ingenious devices that have been mis-applied including trash cans, ergonomic chairs (these slick little buggers add the swivel and rotate effect for maximum adrenaline rush that comes with being catapulted both up and out of orbit), desks, stacked books, backs of co-workers and other contortions and configurations to gross to describe in these musings.

In all seriousness, please use proper footstools and ladders to access elevated materials. I know it takes a few minutes longer to go get a ladder do a seemingly simple task but in this case a few minutes pales (sorry, just had to use this again) when compared to the 2,400 minutes of painful lost work time that resulted from this accident.

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