At around 11 am, in carrying out a delivery of hot bitumen (in accordance with UN code 3256), a driver hooked up to his tanker the transfer hose supplied by the client. Upon noticing a flow blockage, the client used a blowtorch to heat the hose and remove product that had clogged, at which point he observed a leak in the vicinity of the coupling. Not protected with a visor helmet, he asked the driver to tighten the coupling. During this step, the connection opened slightly and product sprayed into the driver’s face.

Several breaches were identified:

• individual protective gear not worn correctly: the driver had not fully lowered his visor and had no safety glasses;
• maintenance deficiencies: presence of residual plugs in the client’s hose, reflecting insufficient cleaning; heavy wear on the ring clamped to the hose coupling on the pump side;
• operating failures: attempt to tighten the coupling while the hose was still pressurised; heating of product with a blowtorch, leading to a rise in product pressure;
• major design flaw: missing locking ring on the hose.