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 #14421523

BLEACH,WORK RULES,PHOSPHORIC ACID,CHLORINE,CHEMICAL REACTION,CHEMICAL BURN,TOXIC FUMES,OVEREXPOSURE

Event
BLEACH,WORK RULES,PHOSPHORIC ACID,CHLORINE,CHEMICAL REACTION,CHEMICAL BURN,TOXIC FUMES,OVEREXPOSURE
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14421523
Report ID
728900

Event description

Four employees suffer overexposure to chlorine gas

Investigation abstract

The offal room foreman placed contaminated boots and aprons in a 32 gallon plast ic pail in an equipment wash room adjacent to the office room. He dumped a half gallon of chlorine bleach into the pail. He then obtained a gallon of Henkel Bon chem acid 300 (60 percent phosphoric acid) and poured it into the pail. He then began to add water. A violent reaction occurred and chlorine gas was given off. The office room workers evacuated themselves. Employees #1 through #4, three cle an-up employees without ppe and another employee, were hospitalized.

Victims (4)

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 40 M

    Nature of injury
    17
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    8
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    0640
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 40 M

    Nature of injury
    17
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    8
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    0640
    Task assigned
    1
  3. #3 Hospitalized Age 30 F

    Nature of injury
    17
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    8
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    0640
    Task assigned
    1
  4. #4 Hospitalized Age 40 M

    Nature of injury
    17
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    8
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    7
    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.