OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14346597
SCUBA,DIVING,PIPE,DROWN,MANHOLE,DIVER,COMMERCIAL DIVING,POOR VISIBILITY
Event description
COMMERCIAL DIVERS DRAWN INTO WATER PIPES AND DROWNED
Investigation abstract
TWO COMMERCIAL DIVERS WERE KILLED WHEN THEY WERE DRAWN INTO AN INTAKE PIPE WHICH UCED CURRENTS. ONLY AFTER THE PUMPS WERE SHUT DOWN WERE THE BODIES RECOVERED. CARRIED COOLING WATER TO A NUCLEAR REACTOR IN AN ELECTRIC GENERATING PLANT. THE PUMPING SYSTEM HAD BEEN MISTAKENLY LEFT RUNNING WHILE THE DIVERS WERE ENGAGED I N CLEANING AND INSPECTING ACTIVIES. DESPITE THE POOR VISIBILITY AND THE RESTRICT ED CONFIGURATION OF THE WORK AREA, THE DIVERS WERE USING SCUBA GEAR WITH NO SURF ACE LINE TENDING. SINCE ACCESS INTO THE DIVE AREA WAS THROUGH A MANHOLE, NO ONE TOPSIDE COULD MONITOR THE LOCATION OF THE INWATER DIVER. WHEN THE FIRST DIVER FA ILED TO REAPPEAR IN A TIMELY FASHION, THE SECOND DIVER ENTERED THE WATER TO BEGI N A SEARCH FOR HIM. THE RESCUE DIVER ALSO BECAME TRAPPED IN THE MECHANICALLY IND
Victims (3)
-
#1 Fatality Age 26 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 41
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 6
- Environmental factor
- 13
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Fatality Age 29 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 41
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 6
- Environmental factor
- 13
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#981 Degree 0 Age 0
- Nature of injury
- 0
- Part of body
- 0
- Event type
- 0
- Source
- 0
- Occupation code
- 0
- Human factor
- 0
- Environmental factor
- 0
- Task assigned
- 0
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.