Incident date: 2025-08-20
NAICS industry code: 562111

An employee was loading trash into a rear-load trash truck from a residential trash can. The hopper of the truck was nearly full so the employee compressed the trash with the blade of the truck to make room in the hopper. As the trash was compressed, a black liquid sprayed out from the truck and onto the employee. The liquid was later determined to be a highly concentrated sulfuric acid that was in a plastic container inside a paper bag in a trash bin. The employee was hospitalized with chemical burns to their face, arms, and abdomen.

Hazard classification:
code_event: title: Exposure through intact tissue
code_source: title: Sulfuric acid
code_nature: title: Chemical burns, corrosions  degree unspecified
code_body: title: Multiple body parts  n.e.c.
severity: moderate