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 #14449763

RESPIRATORY,UNCONSCIOUSNESS,CONFINED SPACE,WORK RULES,CLEANING,INHALATION,FREON,PIT

Event
RESPIRATORY,UNCONSCIOUSNESS,CONFINED SPACE,WORK RULES,CLEANING,INHALATION,FREON,PIT
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14449763
Report ID
552700

Event description

EMPLOYEE OVERCOME BY FREON GAS IN CONFINED SPACE

Investigation abstract

ON SEPTEMBER 24, 1986, EMPLOYEE #1 ENTERED A 4.8 FEET DEEP FLOOR SUMP PIT TO CLE AR AWAY ACCUMULATED SLUDGE. ABOUT 20 MINUTES LATER HE WAS FOUND UNCONSCIOUS AT T HE BOTTOM OF THE PIT. A FEW MINUTES LATER WHEN HE WAS PULLED FROM THE PIT HE APP EARED TO BE BREATHING. HE WAS RUSHED TO A HOSPITAL, WHERE HE WAS DECLARED DEAD 1 1/2 HOURS LATER. FREON 113 VAPORS IN EXCESS OF 2800 PPM WERE FOUND IN THE PIT T HE NEXT DAY. CONFINED SPACE ENTRY PROCEDURES FOR THIS PIT HAD NOT BEEN DEVELOPED .

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 16 M

    Nature of injury
    17
    Part of body
    31
    Event type
    12
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    453
    Human factor
    19
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    2485
    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.