104,543Records 70,659Employers 84,666Hospitalizations 27,563Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-09-30
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14387039

MAINTENANCE,VENTILATION,CONFINED SPACE,METHYLENE CHLORIDE,DEGREASER,AIR CONTAMINATION,UNTRAINED

Event
MAINTENANCE,VENTILATION,CONFINED SPACE,METHYLENE CHLORIDE,DEGREASER,AIR CONTAMINATION,UNTRAINED
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14387039
Report ID
524200

Event description

INHALATION OF VAPORS IN A CONFINED SPACE

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1 WAS ASSIGNED TO DRAIN AND CLEAN A BARON BLAKESLEE DEGREASER. THE DEG REASER WAS SURROUNDED BY A 3-1/2 FOOT DEEP PIT, WHICH THE EMPLOYEE ENTERED TO OP EN THE VALUE AND DRAIN THE CONTENTS (METHYLENE CHLORIDE). THE EMPLOYEE WORE A DU ST MUSK IN THE PIT. NO VENTILATING WAS DONE BEFORE ENTERING. NO MEASUREMENTS WER E TAKEN TO DETERMINE AIR CONTAMINANT LEVELS. NO OTHER PERSONNEL WERE PRESENT. TH E EMPLOYEE WAS NOT TRAINED. THE EMPLOYEE WAS FOUND 1 HOUR LATER BY THE SUPERVISO R. HE WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD 2 HOURS LATER.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 25 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    8
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    19
    Environmental factor
    7
    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.