Well here's a variation on the "naked flame to a gas tank" story. I worked at gas stations part time for many years as we are a "single income" family, and in Oz Liquid Propane Gas (LPG) is a really cheap alternative to gasoline, and at a lot of gas stations, we store the LPG in big tanks underground.
As part of a "console operators" (Bowser Boys, pump jockeys etc) closing down duties, you have to check the gas gauge (located under a manhole cover) with a special spark proof torch to report on daily sales. One of our sites had an incident where a console operator (a Pakistani student) suffered burns around his face, hands, and mouth, and esophagus and lungs, when he virtually inhaled a fireball caused by the gas sitting in the "well" somehow igniting.
He recovered, and when he was fit enough to be questioned about the circumstances of the gas fire, he swore that he hadn't used a cigarette lighter to illuminate the gauge, (the fire happened about 11pm) however, there was a functional "BIC" lighter found a few feet away from him, and the torch (with flat batteries) was still hanging on the hook in the shop, behind the counter. Kinda made me wonder how he intended to read the gauge without a torch?
Regardless, because Mobil couldn't prove that he did, in fact, use the cigarette lighter (he was a smoker, and his cigarettes, but
no lighter was found in the shop behind the counter) to attempt to illuminate the gauge, they were forced to pay out almost a million dollars in compensation to their employee. After typing this, I can't decide now whether the console operator was dumb, or whether the law is..........
