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 #14430482

COMPRESSOR,UNCONSCIOUSNESS,ALARM,CONSTRUCTION,INHALATION,EQUIPMENT FAILURE,CARBOXYHEMOGLOBIN,OVEREXPOSURE,CARBON MONOXIDE,RESPIRATOR

Event
COMPRESSOR,UNCONSCIOUSNESS,ALARM,CONSTRUCTION,INHALATION,EQUIPMENT FAILURE,CARBOXYHEMOGLOBIN,OVEREXPOSURE,CARBON MONOXIDE,RESPIRATOR
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14430482
Report ID
830500

Event description

Employees suffer overexposure to carbon monoxide

Investigation abstract

On December 9, 1988, Employees #1 through #5 were working at the Stapleton Inter he Air-Burst Jr. and then sent to the respirators without sounding an alarm. All five employees had been working for less than 15 minutes. At 11:15 a.m., Employ ee #1 passed out and had to be carried from the abatement area. Emergency help a rrived at 11:30 a.m. and administered oxygen to all five employees. They were tr ansported to the hospital for blood tests and were treated in a hyperbaric chamb er. Their carboxyhemoglobin levels ranged from 16 to 24 percent. national Airport boiler building asbestos abatement project, which had been cont racted to Mac-Bestos, Inc. They were wearing supplied air respirators. A gasolin e-powered air compressor was located outside the building and pumped air to an A ir-Burst Jr. breathing system, which directed the air to the respirators. The br eathing air system, when operated correctly, sounds an alarm if the air compress or is sending air that is unfit for breathing. The system also has a back up whi ch then sends breathable air to the respirators. At approximately 11:00 a.m., Em ployees #1 through #5 were overexposed to carbon monoxide, which was pumped to t

Victims (5)

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 26 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    8
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    19
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    0560
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 36 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    8
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    19
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    0560
    Task assigned
    1
  3. #3 Hospitalized Age 28 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    8
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    19
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    0560
    Task assigned
    1
  4. #4 Hospitalized Age 26 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    8
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    19
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    0560
    Task assigned
    1
  5. #5 Hospitalized Age 43 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    8
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    19
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    0560
    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.