OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14442974
SOUTHEASTERN PUBLIC SERVICE AUTHORITY-SPSA
PORTSMOUTH, VA·
Event description
Five employees exposed to sodium cyanide dust
Investigation abstract
At approximately 8:15 a.m. on Friday, May 12, 1989, the operator of a front end loader ran into a barrel of sodium cyanide in a waste pile at a trash shredding plant. The impact caused sodium cyanide dust to be dispersed into the air. Two w orkers removed the barrel from the plant and the plant was evacuated. All person nel were decontaminated by emergency response teams; Employees #1 through #5 wer e sent to the hospital for evaluation.
Victims (5)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 29 Male
- Nature of injury
- Poisoning(Systemic) (17)
- Part of body
- BODYSYSTEM (4)
- Accident type
- INHALATION (8)
- Source of injury
- DUST/PARTICLES/CHIPS (14)
- Occupation
- Industrial truck and tractor equipment operators (856)
- Human factor
- MISJUDGMENT, HAZ. SITUATION (1)
- Environmental factor
- GAS/VAPOR/MIST/FUME/SMOKE/DUST (7)
- Hazardous substance
- 0790
- Task assigned
- Task regularly assigned (1)
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 28 Male
- Nature of injury
- Poisoning(Systemic) (17)
- Part of body
- BODYSYSTEM (4)
- Accident type
- INHALATION (8)
- Source of injury
- DUST/PARTICLES/CHIPS (14)
- Occupation
- Industrial truck and tractor equipment operators (856)
- Human factor
- MISJUDGMENT, HAZ. SITUATION (1)
- Environmental factor
- GAS/VAPOR/MIST/FUME/SMOKE/DUST (7)
- Hazardous substance
- 0790
- Task assigned
- Task regularly assigned (1)
-
#3 Hospitalized Age 37 Male
- Nature of injury
- Poisoning(Systemic) (17)
- Part of body
- BODYSYSTEM (4)
- Accident type
- INHALATION (8)
- Source of injury
- DUST/PARTICLES/CHIPS (14)
- Occupation
- Industrial truck and tractor equipment operators (856)
- Human factor
- MISJUDGMENT, HAZ. SITUATION (1)
- Environmental factor
- GAS/VAPOR/MIST/FUME/SMOKE/DUST (7)
- Hazardous substance
- 0790
- Task assigned
- Task regularly assigned (1)
-
#4 Hospitalized Age 29 Male
- Nature of injury
- Poisoning(Systemic) (17)
- Part of body
- BODYSYSTEM (4)
- Accident type
- INHALATION (8)
- Source of injury
- DUST/PARTICLES/CHIPS (14)
- Occupation
- Industrial truck and tractor equipment operators (856)
- Human factor
- MISJUDGMENT, HAZ. SITUATION (1)
- Environmental factor
- GAS/VAPOR/MIST/FUME/SMOKE/DUST (7)
- Hazardous substance
- 0790
- Task assigned
- Task regularly assigned (1)
-
#5 Hospitalized Age 53 Male
- Nature of injury
- Poisoning(Systemic) (17)
- Part of body
- BODYSYSTEM (4)
- Accident type
- INHALATION (8)
- Source of injury
- DUST/PARTICLES/CHIPS (14)
- Occupation
- Industrial truck and tractor equipment operators (856)
- Human factor
- MISJUDGMENT, HAZ. SITUATION (1)
- Environmental factor
- GAS/VAPOR/MIST/FUME/SMOKE/DUST (7)
- Hazardous substance
- 0790
- Task assigned
- Task regularly assigned (1)
Labels are OSHA's own, from the code dictionary published with the accident-investigation file. The raw code is shown beside each one so this page can be reconciled against OSHA's bulk data. OSHA notes that nature of injury, part of body, source of injury and accident type in this file are not coded to the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System, and that the occupation titles are not standardised — so these values are not directly comparable with the OIICS-coded severe injury reports.