The worker was hospitalized after metal fragments flew from a garbage truck near 9th Street and Abert Place.
MILWAUKEE — A city sanitation worker was hospitalized after improperly discarded oxygen tanks exploded inside a garbage truck as its crew compacted trash on Milwaukee’s north side, according to a Department of Public Works official.
The explosion happened July 15 near 9th Street and Abert Place, south of Capitol Drive. The force knocked the worker backward and caused an eye injury and concussion, Sanitation Services Manager Rick Myers said. The city did not release the worker’s name or provide an updated condition.
Investigators found that two oxygen tanks had exploded as the truck’s packing blade pressed against material in the collection hopper. Workers recovered two additional oxygen tanks from the truck, Myers said. Pressurized containers are prohibited from household garbage because they can rupture when crushed by collection equipment.
“As the crew started to move the packing blade, that pressure caused an explosion,” Myers said. “And we came to find out that there were two oxygen tanks that exploded. There were an additional two that were recovered from the hopper as well.”
A metal fragment struck the worker near the eye. Myers said medical personnel removed the fragment and credited the worker’s safety glasses with limiting the injury. The city trains sanitation employees to wear eye protection while collecting and compacting waste.
“We are very fortunate that he was wearing his safety glasses, which is something that we train everybody to do,” Myers said. The worker also suffered a concussion after being thrown several feet by the blast, according to the department’s account.
The incident showed how an object placed in a residential cart can become a danger after it enters a garbage truck. Collection crews generally cannot see every item before the truck’s hydraulic blade compresses the load. A sealed cylinder can remain under pressure even when it appears empty.
“It definitely could’ve been worse,” Myers said. He said carts still attached to the back of the truck absorbed part of the force, but the blast remained powerful enough to knock the worker backward and send fragments through the area.
Milwaukee officials said the city had a similar garbage truck explosion about two years earlier, though no injuries were reported in that incident. An oxygen tank also exploded in an Ohio waste truck in 2025, providing another example of the risks pressurized cylinders pose to collection crews.
City garbage guidelines identify propane tanks and other pressurized cylinders as fire hazards that do not belong in curbside carts. Milwaukee accepts certain propane cylinders through designated disposal programs, but medical oxygen tanks must generally be returned to the company that supplied them.
Officials said the supplier listed on an oxygen cylinder should be contacted to arrange its return. The company is required to reclaim the tank even when the person disposing of it is not the patient who originally received the equipment.
The city said improper disposal of pressurized canisters can lead to fines of up to $5,000. Officials hope the worker’s injury will remind residents that a tank placed in ordinary trash can endanger sanitation employees long after the cart leaves the curb.
Author note: Last updated July 21, 2026.