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2012 Slush Pile

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Smoking at work kills

2012 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

I went to my job one day where I refueled airplanes that landed at the airport and noticed one of the guys I worked with was missing. I walked over to the truck refueling area looking for him and found the refueling truck in the middle of a large puddle of fuel and the pump was still running. I skirted the edge of the puddle, climbed the protective berm, and then shut of the pump where I noticed the dead man switch had been jammed between the tank and a steel beam so the switch stayed depressed. I turned to look around for the guy who was running the truck and found him dead laying on the side of the truck! An investigation determined that he had not opened the top access port of the tank on the truck to allow air in the tank to escape as the fuel level rose. When he climbed the side of the truck his face was directly over the access port which opened with enough force to knock him out and he feel over the now opened access port. Since the truck was still being fueled, the avgas kept rising flooding the air with gas fumes displacing the oxygen so he died from asphyxiation before the fuel started spilling out of the top and covered him in fuel. I personally think the guy was in a hurry to have a cigarette so he skipped opening the top access port and then rigged the deadman switch so he wouldn't have to hold it to keep the pump running. Why he climbed the side of the truck so he was standing on the wheel well putting his face closer to the access port instead of climbing the back of the truck I'll never know, but if he had been standing over the access port it wouldn't have hit his face knocking him out.

Submitted on 08/26/2012

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference: 1992

Copyright © 2012 DarwinAwards.com

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Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
It sounds to me like this guy may have started fueling the truck and then remembered he needed to open the access port. Whatever the case, he was extremely stupid to bypass the dead mans switch and even stupider to try to reach the access port while pressure was building up. The stupidity involved is enough for a PA for me. Thanks!

Candi said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Oh good grief... there are safety regs for a REASON!!! Thanks!

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