Date of incident: February 2020
Notice of incident number: 2020172120011
Employer: Plywood mill

Incident summary
In a steam plant at a plywood mill, two workers were attempting to replace a leaky nipple and gasket at the end of a condensate header. As they were loosening or removing nuts from the outer flange at the end of the header, one worker was sprayed with steam and condensate (hot water). The worker sustained serious injuries.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• Failure to lock out dryer system resulted in condensate entering header. The dryer system was not locked out. As a result, the system maintained some degree of operating pressure, allowing condensate to enter the header. It is plausible that once the sixth nut was loosened or removed from the outer flange, the condensate in the flash tank boiled. The hot condensate then travelled the length of the header, and one of the workers was sprayed with steam and condensate.

Contributing factors

• Lack of training and safe work procedures. The lack of training and safe work procedures for replacing a leaky gasket at the end of the header was a contributing factor in this incident. The employer failed to provide its workers with the information, instruction, and training necessary to replace a leaky gasket at the end of the header.

Request the full report