OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14380067
BLEACH,WORK RULES,INHALATION,STORAGE TANK,CHLORINE,AIR CONTAMINATION,CHEMICAL REACTION,CHEMICAL VAPOR,TOXIC FUMES,COMMUNICATION
Event description
Six employees hospitalized after inhaling chlorine gas
Investigation abstract
At approximately 5:05 a.m. on May 26, 1987, Employee #1 was performing routine c hecks of the liquid levels in the chemical storage tanks in a washroom. He start ed to pump what he thought was acid from an acid-labeled drum into the "sour" ta nk, which did contain acid. In fact, the liquid in the drum was bleach that had been diluted in preparation for use by an unknown worker. The bleach reacted wit h the acid, producing chlorine gas. Employees #1 through #6 were at their regula r work stations when the gas cloud went through the plant. They were all hospita lized.
Victims (6)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 30 M
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 18
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 45 M
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 18
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#3 Hospitalized Age 40 M
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 18
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#4 Hospitalized Age 40 F
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 18
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#5 Hospitalized Age 35 F
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 18
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#6 Hospitalized Age 40 M
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 18
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
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.