A 61-year-old powered-industrial truck operator died after his forklift ruptured a pipe containing a solvent mixture and the vapors ignited. The victim was operating his forklift in an area between a stacker and a printing press in order to pick up a waste pallet and transport it to the recycling area. Some part of the forklift struck an overhanging pipe containing toluene and ethyl benzene dislodging a ball-valve assembly and dousing the victim and forklift with the solvent mixture. The victim drove the forklift forward and then back under the flowing solvent, then drove the lift to the stairs below a bank of meters and ball valves. He dismounted the lift and walked up the stairs and closed the correct ball valve to stop the solvent stream. He went back down the stairs to the forklift. At this point, a co-worker asked him how he was and he replied “I’m burning.” While the co-worker went to stop the printing press and obtain solvent-collection devices to contain the spill, the victim drove the forklift to the locker rooms where showers were located. The forklift was found in the hallway near the locker rooms where the solvent vapors had ignited and burned the victim and the lift. Emergency responders and the local fire department were called. The victim died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
Forklift strikes overhead flammable liquid line causing flash fire fatality (TN-OSHA #21-2010)
