OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14442297

AVTEX FIBERS, INC.

FRONT ROYAL, VA· 1986-12-14T00:00:00

Event: UNCONSCIOUSNESS, CONFINED SPACE, HYDROGEN SULFIDE, WORK RULES, INHALATION, CHEMICAL REACTION, TOXIC FUMES, MANHOLE, SULFURIC ACID, CARBON DISULFIDE
NAICS: 000000
Inspection type: Accident-driven
Activity number: #3355112
Employer profile: AVTEX FIBERS, INC.
Summary number: 14442297
Report ID: 355122

Event description

EMPLOYEE EXPOSED TO FATAL CONCENTRATION OF HYDROGEN SULFIDE

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1 WAS ATTEMPTING TO THAW A FROZEN PIPELINE WHICH CARRIED A CHEMICAL SO LUTION FROM A RAYON SPINNING PROCESS TO A 10,000 GALLON STORAGE TANK. THE CHEMIC AL SOLUTION CONSISTED OF HYDROGEN SULFIDE, WATER, SULFURIC ACID, SODIUM SULFATE, ZINC SULFATE AND CARBON DISULFIDE. EMPLOYEE #1, LOCATED ON TOP OF THE TANK, STU CK HIS HEAD INTO THE MANHOLE WHILE TRYING TO THAW THE LINE AND WAS OVERCOME BY T HE HYDROGEN SULFIDE AND CARBON DISULFIDE.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 63 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
29

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
633

Human factor
19

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
1480

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.