Oil-change shop explosion
Jeffrey P. Yaroch
Firefighter/Paramedic
Richmond, Michigan
Recently in my community an explosion at a 10-minute oil-change shop killed a 16-year-old employee and burned another. It is believed that a customer may have dropped off for disposal waste oil containing an unknown flammable liquid. The waste oil was poured into the waste oil tank in the shop?s pit. Because there was no fluid-level sight glass, the employees are thought to have used a cigarette lighter to look directly into the tank. The vapor ignited, and the tank failed, killing the 16-year-old and touching off a very intense fire. No code violations were found. However, many of these conditions are common to the majority of oil-change shops in the area and probably the entire industry. These factors seem to indicate a lack of awareness of and planning for the potential risks of this new business. Please encourage your readers to take a second look at these facilities in their communities.
