OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14382428
ASHTON PLATING CORPORATION
ADDISON, IL·
Event description
CYANIDE POISONING IN PLATING ESTABLISHMENT
Investigation abstract
ON OCTOBER, 31,1985, AT APPROXIMATELY 12 AM, EMPLOYEE #1 COLLAPSED JUST AFTER TA ATION COULD BE OFFERED BY CO-WORKERS. THE EMPLOYEE DIED ABOUT 2 DAYS AFTER HE CO LLAPSED. ATTENDING PHYSICIANS DIAGNOSED HIS CONDITION AS ACUTE CYANIDE POISONING . KING A SHORT BREAK FROM A PROCESS REFERRED TO AS "STRIPPING". PARTS ARE DIPPED I NTO A SERIES OF TANKS WHICH CONTAIN WATER, WATER MIXED WITH DETERGENT AND WATER MIXED WITH HYDROCHLORIC ACID. THE ACID REMOVES CORROSION AND DIRT FROM THE PARTS . AFTER PARTS WERE STRIPPED THEY WERE ZINC PLATED IN ANOTHER PROCESS OPERATED BY CO-WORKERS. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS NOT WORKING WITH ANY CYANIDE OR CYANIDE SOLUTIONS A T THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT OR PRIOR TO THE INCIDENT. CO-WORKERS (3) HAD JUST FIN ISHED TALKING TO THE EMPLOYEE PRIOR TO HIS COLLAPSE. HE HAD NOT COMPLAINED OF AN Y ILL FEELINGS AND CO-WORKERS HAD NOT EXPERIENCED ANY ADVERSE AFFECTS. NO EXPLAN
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 21 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 31
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 43
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 18
- Hazardous substance
- 0790
- 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.