OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14278071
RESPIRATORY,UNCONSCIOUSNESS,CONFINED SPACE,METHYLENE CHLORIDE,WORK RULES,INHALATION,TANK,RESPIRATOR
Event description
OVERCOME BY ORGANIC SOLVENT IN CONFINED SPACE
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #5 ENTERED AN EMPTY WASTE TREATMENT HOLDING TANK (8 FEET DEEP, 8 FEET L OCEDURES. ONG, AND 4 FEET WIDE) WITH A WIRE BRUSH AND A BUCKET OF METHYLENE CHLORIDE. HE W AS USING THE SOLVENT-LADEN BRUSH TO ROUGHEN UP THE WALLS AND EPOXY PAINT TO ENAB LE A NEW COAT TO BE APPLIED IN THE FUTURE. EMPLOYEE #5 WAS IN THE TANK ALONE, WI THOUT RESPIRATORY PROTECTION. EMPLOYEE #2 WAS WALKING BY THE TANK WHEN HE SAW AN EXTENSION CORD RUNNING INTO THE TANK AND DECIDED TO LOOK INTO IT. HE FOUND EMPL OYEE #5 UNCONSCIOUS IN THE TANK. RESCUE OPERATIONS WERE IMMEDIALTELY UNDERTAKEN BY EMPLOYEES #1,2,3, AND 4. DURING THE RESCUE, EMPLOYEE #4 LOST CONSCIOUSNESS. A LL FIVE EMPLOYEES WERE HOSPITALIZED. THE EMPLOYER HAD NO CONFINED SPACE ENTRY PR
Victims (5)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 31 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 25
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 18
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1730
- Task assigned
- 2
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 45 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 25
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 18
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1730
- Task assigned
- 2
-
#3 Hospitalized Age 41 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 25
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 18
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1730
- Task assigned
- 2
-
#4 Hospitalized Age 46 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 25
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 18
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1730
- Task assigned
- 2
-
#5 Hospitalized Age 26 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 25
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 18
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1730
- Task assigned
- 2
Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.