Oxygen tanks explode in Milwaukee garbage truck, injuring sanitation worker

Improperly discarded oxygen tanks exploded inside a Milwaukee garbage truck as it compacted trash near 9th Street and Abert Place, knocking a sanitation worker off his feet and sending him to the hospital with a concussion and an eye injury. The blast turned a routine collection route into a workplace explosion and left Milwaukee police investigating how the canisters ended up in the trash.

Surveillance video captured the moment the truck’s compactor triggered the explosion. Two workers were standing at the rear of the truck when the blast went off, and one was knocked to the ground by the force of it. Officials said the worker also suffered an eye injury along with the concussion.

Tiffany Shepherd, a marketing and communications officer for the Milwaukee Department of Public Works, said the worker’s safety glasses likely prevented a more serious eye injury. Department of Public Works sanitation manager Rick Meyers said the explosion came from improperly discarded oxygen tanks, underscoring how a household item meant to carry medical oxygen can become dangerous once it enters the waste stream.

The worker was hospitalized July 15 after the incident. Milwaukee police are still investigating, while the department’s account of the blast points to a familiar sanitation risk: pressurized containers thrown into ordinary trash can rupture under compaction and injure the people handling the load. In this case, the damage was recorded on camera, and the injuries landed on the workers standing closest to the truck’s rear, where the blast and flying debris hit first.