Incident date: 2018-10-28
NAICS industry code: 488210

An employee was cleaning a railcar that was previously carrying phenol material when the employee noticed a valve in the railcar was clogged. The employee applied steam to the clog for 20 minutes to melt the material. Once complete, the employee opened the valve, which had built pressure, forcing the phenol and steam out of the pipe and onto the employee's face and neck. The employee suffered first degree burns to the face and neck and was hospitalized.

Hazard classification:
code_event: title: Exposure through intact skin, eyes, or other exposed tissue
code_source: title: Phenol
code_nature: title: First degree chemical burns and corrosions
code_body: title: Head and neck
severity: moderate