26 replies to this topic

[JulioJoglar]

Gainsville.com reports that a 50 year-old woman was killed and three others were injured when an oxygen tank exploded while refilling it.

http://www.gainesvil...90346/1078/news

The woman, an employee of a dive shop in Luraville, died of massive abdominal injuries while three customers suffered minor injuries. The cause of the blast is unknown at this time and OSHA is investigating.

I do not know about you guys but I hate to get close to tank filling stations. The chances of a tank exploding while refilling it is so small. Yet, I always stay away of the station just as an additional precaution. You just never know.

Julio

Edited by JulioJoglar, 02 August 2004 - 08:48 PM.

[mostlysingle]

OMGosh! We were just talking about that in my shop the other day. Tragedy, but stupidity!

[drbill]

I get the jitters when I hear a burst disc fail at the Casino Point air fill station. At least there is no shrapnel involved.

Doc

[chinacat46]

I couldn't read the article Julio but if it was oxygen as you said I'm sure that had something to do with.

[Boatlawyer]

Being extremely new (and stupid) and wanting to avoid tragedy, can someone explain what was done that was stupid?

[Walter]

can someone explain what was done that was stupid?

Since I can't get the link to work, I can't answer your question.

[JulioJoglar]

ok, the link is fixed. However, the only thing known so far is that the tank was of oxygen. An investigation is pending and I will keep you all posted. Sorry for the link problem.

Julio

[triggerfish]

holy CRAP!!!

i tell ya, i'm around O2 tanks all day. as silly as it sounds, i'm STILL wary every time i open one up.....

[Wildcard]

I got to see an "M" size (big un) O2 tank fall and shear the valve in highschool. Screamed down the road, hit a loading ramp and was last seen headed for space. It never turned up. Don't play with these things people!

[Lubold8431]

Just thought I would add some more facts (gleaned from TDS and CDF):

The cylinder was an AL 30, manufactured by Luxfer, made of the 6351-T6 alloy. Cylinder was dropped in the parking lot just before being brought into CE to be filled. (From Incident report to PSI HQ). Basically, thats the only facts right now. Lots of things are floating around that are blatant rumors and speculation...

[BKScuba]

I'm always scared of that, that is awful!

[Walter]

Theresa,

From the article, it's impossible to even say if anything stupid was done. There are few facts available.

In cases like these, it often turns out that the tank wasn't inspected by a qualified technician and likely would have failed inspection had someone qualified done the inspection. Most dive shops do not have qualified tank inspectors and yet continue to inspect tanks. There's an excellent thread on this topic here.

There have been cases (an explosion at Silent World in Key Largo comes to mind) where the tank had not been inspected in years, but was still being filled.

Close to 20 years ago, I remember someone had their AL tank painted using a process which baked on the paint. The heat weakened the alloy and, if memory serves, killed the person filling the tank in Lakeland.

Overfilling tanks causes them to weaken over time. Overfilling is common in some locations.

As Lubold said, few facts are available in this incident. Hopefully, more details will become available.

[maninthesea]

Having seen the accuricy in reporting I would not be supprised of the "Oxygen Tank" was an air tank or nitrox tank. There are a lot of people out there who think we strap on an oxygen tank every time we get in the water.

Boat Lawyer
Stupidity is not required for a tank to explode hower it helps. I have seen a lot of what I consider amazing things in the course of my time working with tanks. If the tank was indeed being used for Nitrox or Oxygen it was at a higher risk. Things that "could" have contributed include excesive fill speed and or pressure, contamination of hydrocarbons such as oil in the tank or valve, or since it was made of the alloy 6351-T6 it may have had cracks in it prior to filling (and aleged droping in the parking lot) that just decided to let go. There are many other things that may have contributed to the failure but these are a few of the usual suspects. If you really want to know contact your LDS and find out if a tank inspection class is availible. You may be surprised what you learn.

Cheers Jim

[triggerfish]

thanks for the update, chuck....

still scary.
i think i'll choose NOT to install that compresser in my basement after all!

[DivingGal]

Filling a tank with something other than "air" (eg 21%) is more dangerous. You have to fill tanks at a much slower rate, as the higher O2 content can become a explosive hazzard. (Because of the posibility of friction in the fill hoses) I am more nervous doing Nitrox fills than regular fills for this reason.

Tanks that come in dinged, painted are always a worry to me -- yuo just never know. I've even had customer get mad when I've refused a tank that was out of date for hydro or out of date for VIS. Geesh - it was for his safety too.


Edited for clarity

Edited by DivingGal, 03 August 2004 - 10:45 AM.