OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14386320
OXYGEN DEFICIENCY,SEWER,UNCONSCIOUSNESS,ASPHYXIATED,VENTILATION,CONFINED SPACE,WORK RULES,UNTRAINED
Event description
ONE DEATH, ONE INJURY FROM ENTRY INTO UNVENTILATED SEWER
Investigation abstract
ON AUGUST 17, 1986, EMPLOYEE #1, THE OWNER OF THE COMPANY, ENTERED A SEWER AT 23 34 WEST 59TH STREET WITHOUT TESTING FOR CONTAMINANTS OR OXYGEN. EMPLOYEE #1 FELL OVER, PROMPTING THE CREW TO LOWER ANOTHER EMPLOYEE INTO THE SEWER TO HELP. THE SECOND EMPLOYEE INTO THE SEWER ASKED TO BE PULLED OUT AFTER ONLY ABOUT 15 SECOND S. THEN A THIRD EMPLOYEE (EMPLOYEE #2) ENTERED THE SEWER. AS EMPLOYEE #2 WAS ATT EMPTING TO PUSH EMPLOYEE #1 OUT OF THE SEWER, HE BLACKED OUT. THE FIRE DEPARTMEN T THEN ARRIVED AND RESCUED BOTH EMPLOYEES. EMPLOYEE #2 DIED OF ASPHYXIATION. EMP LOYEE #1 SIGNED HIMSELF OUT OF THE HOSPITAL THE NEXT DAY.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 56 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 31
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 43
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 18
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Fatality Age 22 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 31
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 43
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 18
- 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.