Description of Incident
An operator was pouring a sack of chemical powder manually into the hopper of a blending machine. The charging process took place while a welder was installing a product specification board (sign board) within the vicinity of the hopper. When the welder started a test spark, a spark fell into the hopper and a ash re occurred. The operator who was loading the chemical powder suffered burns and sustained cuts while escaping from the fire.
Possible Causes and Contributing Factors
Medium
• The chemical powder being charged into the hopper was flammable.
Management
• There was no PTW issued for this hot work to ensure that the necessary checks were made before commencing the welding works.
• There was no enclosure to isolate the welding sparks from the hopper.
• Proper means of communication (e.g. via walkie-talkies) were not provided to the workers.
Accident location at the top of the blending machine.
1. Products specification board.
2. Hopper of the blending machine.
3. Position of the welder.
4. Position of the injured.