Repurposed steel drums hazardous at home, in the workplace
Rick Barrett
They’re often presumed to be safe because they’re empty, but steel drums with only a small amount of flammable residue or vapor inside have exploded, injuring and killing scores of people, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation found.
Here's a sampling of accidents, including ones at homes and businesses, over the past 10 years.
Nov. 21: Two people in Georgetown, S.C., were injured when a 55-gallon drum they were working on exploded. Old oil residue sparked by a cutting tool was the cause, The Sun News in Myrtle Beach reported.
Sept 28: Three people in Rockland, Maine, were injured when the 55-gallon drum they were using for a work stand caught fire from the sparks of a grinding tool and exploded.
The drum had once contained acetone, but the workers thought it was vented enough to be safe, said Rockland Fire Chief Chris Whytock. One of the three suffered third-degree burns.
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SERIES:Burned — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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May 19: Andrew Nicholson was welding a handle on a 55-gallon drum that he may have gotten from a salvage business when it blew up and he was killed.
It was shortly after 5 p.m. at Holly Automotive Supply in Holly, Mich. Nicholson, a delivery driver, had just finished his shift.
He took the shop welding equipment into a back room used for storing parts and started working on the sealed drum, its previous contents unknown. Sparks ignited vapor in the drum, and it exploded in Nicholson’s face, shattering his protective mask.
Shop employees said he had planned to use the container at home and no one knew he was working on it until the explosion shook the building.
Sept. 17, 2016: A Milton, N.H., man was seriously injured when a 55-gallon drum exploded at his rural home while he was using a grinder to cut the container. A second man suffered minor injuries, the Rochester Times reported.
The explosion could be heard throughout the area, the newspaper reported.
Aug. 24, 2014: A Michigan man was hospitalized with burns to his face and arms when a steel drum he was welding on in his garage exploded — sending the drum through the wooden garage door.
He was making a lawn roller, the Grand Rapids Press reported.
April 26, 2013: A Kingman, Ind., tire shop employee was severely burned when a cutting torch he was using on scrap metal ignited fumes in a nearby chemical drum.
The explosion threw the man back 20 feet and the barrel 60 feet in the air, the Journal and Courier newspaper reported. He suffered burns over 70% of his body.
Nov. 4, 2012: A San Francisco Fire Department employee was welding a spigot on a 50-gallon drum used to store motor oil when it exploded. He suffered burns but was released from the hospital the same day.
Aug. 30, 2012: A Loraine, Ohio, man was seriously injured when a steel drum exploded as he was cutting it to make a barbecue grill.
The drum was labeled “denatured alcohol-flammable,” according to the Loraine Morning Journal.
March 23, 2011: David Martinez of West Springfield, Mass., was killed when he accidentally ignited the flammable vapors inside a 55-gallon drum of cleaning fluid at the car detailing business where he worked.
Martinez, 33, was talking on his cellphone, placing an order with a chemical supplier, when he used his cigarette lighter to peer inside the drum, which contained a tire-shine product.
Investigators said the force of the explosion killed Martinez and sent the drum approximately 25 feet into the air, where it hit the ceiling.
Fuentes Enterprises, where Martinez worked, was cited for six serious workplace safety violations, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The company, and the car dealership where the accident occurred, reached a settlement with OSHA for a combined $20,000 in fines.
July 24, 2009: Frank Guzman was killed while pumping cleaning solution from a 55-gallon plastic drum into quart-sized containers at Brody Chemical Co. in West Valley City, Utah.
The chemical was thick, so the company kept it under pressure to get it out of the drum. Guzman was pressurizing the drum when it burst, shooting the lid into his head and chest. He was dead before emergency crews arrived, Utah safety officials said.
Guzman, 63, was a Purple Heart recipient during the Vietnam War.
Brody Chemical, which manufactures cleaning products, was issued $3,000 in penalties for two safety violations. The company did not return a Journal Sentinel call.
Feb. 11, 2009: Two Tucson, Ariz., men making a barbecue grill from an old 55-gallon kerosene drum were injured when it exploded as they were cutting it with an electric saw.
Vapor in the drum was ignited by sparks from the saw, the Arizona Daily Star reported.
June 24, 2007: A 55-gallon drum in a truck trailer exploded, triggering a large fire and a string of explosions at a Richmond, Mo., chemical plant.
The fire and explosions prompted the evacuation of a six-block radius of homes and businesses, the Kansas City Star reported.
The blaze spewed plumes of black smoke several hundred feet in the air. Five fire departments worked for about four hours to fight the fire.
The material in the barrels was an epoxy, a substance often associated with adhesives and coatings.