105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14400501

OXYGEN DEFICIENCY,ASPHYXIATED,DUCT,CONFINED SPACE,WORK RULES,NITROGEN

Event
OXYGEN DEFICIENCY,ASPHYXIATED,DUCT,CONFINED SPACE,WORK RULES,NITROGEN
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14400501
Report ID
626300

Event description

ASPHYXIATED IN NITROGEN-FILLED DUCTWORK

Investigation abstract

THE COMPANY HAD INSTALLED NEW DUCTWORK AND WAS REQUIRED TO PRESSURE TEST THE SYS TEM. THE EMPLOYEES FILLED THE SYSTEM WITH NITROGEN, BUT COULD NOT SUCCESSFULLY C OMPLETE THE TEST. A HOLE WAS CUT IN THE DUCTWORK AND EMPLOYEE #1 CRAWLED IN TO L OOK FOR THE LEAK. HE LOOKED FOR THE LEAK IN THE 27 INCH DIAMETER DUCTWORK FOR AB OUT 15 MINUTES. AT ABOUT 10:30 AM EMPLOYEE #1 WAS DISCOVERED, DEAD, ABOUT 12 FEE T FROM THE ENTRY HOLE.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 21 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    8
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    19
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1900
    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.