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REPORT CHARACTERISTICS:
DONOR: B.C. Coroner's Service
JURISDICTION: British Columbia
REPORT TITLE: Judgement of Inquiry
INDIVIDUAL PRESIDING: John Joseph Wolsey, Coroner
PLACE OF INQUIRY: Prince George
DATE OF INQUIRY : 1987-02-02
INFORMATION ABOUT DECEASED:
NAME: Confidential
OCCUPATION: Logger
INDUSTRIAL SECTOR: Logging, Forestry
ACCIDENT INFORMATION:
DATE OF ACCIDENT : 1986-12-12
PLACE OF ACCIDENT: Prince George Dist.
BRIEF CAUSE OF DEATH: Acute craniocerebral trauma, blast injuries.
BRIEF MANNER OF DEATH: A steel drum containing lubricating oil
exploded
while he was heating it with a propane torch.
ACCIDENT DESCRIPTION:
The deceased and his brother had been in the logging business
for thirty
years and were actively involved in all phases of their logging
business, including maintenance and repair of their logging
machinery.
On the 12th of December 1986, they were contract logging in
the Torpey
River Valley about seventy kilometers north-east of McGregor,
B.C.
They had established a temporary camp with some shop facilities
for the
winter season. On December 12th, repairs had just been completed
on a
"Cat" 966-C loader at the winter camp. All the oil had
been drained to
carry out these repairs and their intent was to replace the
oil with new
"Husky" brand Heavy Duty Special 10 weight. A forty-five
gallon steel
barrel containing fifteen to twenty gallons of this oil, was
placed four
feet behind the right rear tire of the 966 loader.
An electrical pump was to be used to pump oil from the barrel
to the
machine. Electrical wires from the pump were to be hooked to
the
battery of a near-by pick-up truck. One electric wire had an
alligator
clip which was attached to the positive post of the battery.
The
alligator clip on the ground wire was broken so his brother
held the
wire on the negative post of the battery to complete the electrical
circuit.
The outside temperature was about - 15 degrees (C). The deceased
decided that the oil would flow easier if it was heated. A propane
tiger torch was lit and the nozzel placed about eighteen inches
away
form the base of the barrel to heat the oil. The torch was left
to heat
the oil for 5-7 minutes, at which time the pump was activated.
The
deceased was holding the nozzel of the pump and began to fill
the
planetaries of the loader with oil. The oil pumped for a short
time and
then quit.
He set the nozzel down and walked back to the forty-five gallon
drum to
see if he could determine what was the matter. His intention
was to
remove the pump from the barrel and extend the telescopic pickup
tube.
In doing so he tipped, or rocked the barrel slightly. The barrel
exploded knocking the bottom of the barrel completely out.
The remainder of the barrel flew upwards on explosion, striking
the
deceased in the face as it became airborn. It travelled a distance
of
sixty-one feet through the air and landed on top of the hood
of a
service truck. The impact knocked the deceased under the 966
loader.
His brother, was about six feet away when the explosion took
place.
An investigation was conducted into this fatality by Workers'
Compensation Board. It was determined that the forty-five gallon
drum
contained less than ten gallons of oil when the pump started.
They also
determined that it has been normal procedure to heat oil drums
with
propane torches during colder weather so that the oil will flow
easier.
Over the years, it has become a common practice. I am also informed
that it is not unusual to heat near empty propane tanks in the
same
manner.
Fuel and oil is usually supplied to logging contractors by bulk
dealers
and either picked up at the bulk plant by the firm, or delivered
to the
site by the bulk dealer. Lubricating oils are packaged in a
variety of
containers, some of the smaller quantities being in plastic
pails. The
smaller plastic containers are more readily stored in heated
premises,
however, the price per litre is considerably more than having
oil
purchased in a steel forty-five gallon drum. Subsequently there
are
still many loggers who prefer to purchase lubricating oils at
the
cheaper price, and forty-five gallon drums are still in demand.
When the drums are empty, they are returned to a firm that re-conditions
them, paints the exterior if necessary and then they are refilled,
labelled and distributed. Warning labels are not required on
the
containers as the flash point of the contents is over 200 degrees
centigrade.
Over the period of many years these questionable work practises
have
developed in winter logging camps. Heating lubricating oil with
a
propane tiger torch in colder weather has become routine procedure,
with
little or no thoughts of any danger. In many camps it is the
only
available method of heating oil so it will readily pump or pour.
WCB
will produce and distribute a warning alert.
RECOMMENDATIONS ISSUING FROM INQUIRY:
That a copy of this report be forwarded to the office of the
Fire
Commissioner for their information. It is requested that the
fire
Commissioner consider publishing some of the detailes of this
accident
for the information of Fire Inspectors, Fire Departments and
others
within the Province.
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