OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14304927
RESPIRATORY,REGULATOR VALVE,WORK RULES,INHALATION,CHLORINE,SCBA,VALVE,RESPIRATOR
Event description
TWO EMPLOYEES EXPOSED TO CHLORINE GAS DURING GAS LEAK
Investigation abstract
IN THE RETORT AREA OF THE CANNERY, EMPLOYEE #2 WATCHED AS EMPLOYEE #1 TOOK A 150 IZED FOR 3 DAYS. POUND CHLORINE CYLINDER OUT OF SERVICE. EMPLOYEE #1 FAILED TO FOLLOW POSTED INS TRUCTIONS TO ENSURE THAT THE CYLINDER VALVE WAS FULLY CLOSED. WHEN THE VACUUM RE GULATOR WAS REMOVED, CHLORINE GAS BEGAN ESCAPING. EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 LEFT THE A REA. EMPLOYEE #1 DONNED A SCBA AND RETURNED TO CLOSE THE VALVE. IT APPEARS THAT THE SCBA WAS WORN IN THE DEMAND MODE, WITH EMPLOYEE #1 WEARING EYEGLASSES WHICH INTERFERED WITH THE FACE SEAL. CHLORINE GAS ENTERED THE FACE PIECE. EMPLOYEE #1 TRIED TO HOLD HIS BREATH AND CLOSE THE VALVE. MINUTES LATER HE WAS FOUND BY EMPL OYEE #2 LYING ON THE GROUND OUTSIDE, GASPING FOR BREATH. EMPLOYEE 1 WAS HOSPITAL
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 41 M
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 19
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 48 M
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 19
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- 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.