Record Number: 1032 CIS Descriptors: THERMAL BURNS EXPLOSIONS TOLUENE UNSAFE ACTS TANK TRUCKS PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY STATIC ELECTRICITY FATALITY REPORT REPORT CHARACTERISTICS: DONOR: Office of the Chief Coroner JURISDICTION: Ontario REPORT TITLE: Verdict of Coroner's Jury INDIVIDUAL PRESIDING: Dr. J.K. Dodds, Coroner PLACE OF INQUIRY: Brampton DATE OF INQUIRY : 1980-11-12 INFORMATION ABOUT DECEASED: NAME: Donald Beverly Jinks OCCUPATION: Loader INDUSTRIAL SECTOR: Petrochemical industry ACCIDENT INFORMATION: DATE OF ACCIDENT : 1980-05-15 PLACE OF ACCIDENT: Texaco Canada Inc., 250 Lakeshore Road, West Mississauga BRIEF CAUSE OF DEATH: Deep heat burning of the whole body surface and smoke inhalation secondary to toluene explosion. BRIEF MANNER OF DEATH: Due to static electricity possibly due to incomplete following of safety procedures by Donald Jinks while loading a tank truck. ACCIDENT DESCRIPTION: Donald Jinks was a 46 year old employee of Texaco who broke almost all the safety rules of loading petrochemicals. 1. He left his pickup truck running at the site of loading. 2. He failed to block the wheels of the tanker. 3. He failed to hook up the grounding cables to the tanker. 4. He failed to hook up the safety line to his belt when he was on top of the tanker. 5. He must have blocked the spring loaded valve so it would continue to load and then went to get the sample bottle in its metal basket and proceeded to lower it to get the sample while the toluene was still loading. This is a high hazard time for static electricity. Jinks suffered a fracture dislocation of his neck and 100% burns in the resulting explosion and fire. He had written and passed his safety exams the month before. RECOMMENDATIONS ISSUING FROM INQUIRY: 1. Consider the use of a two stage valve as advocated in the "truck loading rack" safety presentation of the Oil Insurance Association. 2. Where possible, consideration should be given to remote operation of all loading systems in future installations. 3. Loading racks be equipped with lights indicating that grounding has been effected. 4. Consider incorporating the sample case with the downspout to reduce the danger of static charge. 5. Safety instructions for drivers be widely circulated throughout the industry. 6. In safety instructions, particular attention should be given to "relaxation time" to give static charges time to dissipate. 7. Employees be encouraged to report infractions to their joint health and safety committee and also bring any such infractions to the attention of the offender at the time. COMMENTS ON RECOMMENDATIONS BY CORONER: The driver of the tanker truck, Larry Mitton, a former loader, had knowledge of but ignored the fact that the wheels of the tanker had not been blocked and that the ground cables had not been hooked up. Mitton escaped with minor burns and a hell of a scare. 1. This refers to the last paragraph of page 4 "Truck Loading Rack Safety" of the Oil Insurance Association. Such a system is used by Esso in Sarnia. 2. This is possible with present technology. 3. This has since been done at Texaco. Probably, pumps should be integrated into the circuit so that they cannot be activated until grounding is effected (second paragraph, page 9, "Truck Loading Rack Safety"). 4. Texaco has now incorporated the sample case with the downspout so sampling occurs automatically and eliminates the necessity of passing it through vapour which was believed to have caused the spark in the Jink's case. 5. Self-explanatory. 6. Self-explanatory. 7. Had Larry Mitton done this on May 15, an explosion might have been averted. A point not mentioned by the jury but worth pointing out, particularly to management and unions, is that drivers and loaders should be requalified every year by demonstrations and written tests. While expert witnesses did not consider switch loading a factor in this case, the practice should be discouraged unless the tanker has been steam cleaned or vapour displaced by inert gas. The jury recommendations together with copies of the enclosures should be sent to all: 1. refineries and petrochemical plants 2. Oil Insurance Association 3. Safety Council of Canada 4. companies who are involved in transportation of petrochemicals 5. oil chemical and atomic workers international union 6. Information and Emergency Centre, Transport Canada, Place de Ville, Ottawa.