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 #14454706

LEAK,VENTILATION,AMMONIA,PPE,WORK RULES,INHALATION,CHEMICAL VAPOR,TOXIC FUMES,COMMUNICATION

Event
LEAK,VENTILATION,AMMONIA,PPE,WORK RULES,INHALATION,CHEMICAL VAPOR,TOXIC FUMES,COMMUNICATION
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14454706
Report ID
751910

Event description

Three employees injured by exposure to ammonia gas

Investigation abstract

Employees #1 through #3 were setting up production lines for the boning room and another room. Work in this area had been suspended earlier due to an ammonia le ak. After ventilating the area, maintenance workers began looking for the source of a second ammonia leak. Both leaks were coming from a refrigeration unit in w hich the coils released ammonia gas when the unit entered the defrost cycle. Emp loyees #1 through #3 were overcome by ammonia gas before they could evacuate the area, and were hospitalized. The maintenance workers had been using respiratory protection and had not been aware that Employees #1 through #3 were in the work area.

Victims (3)

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 24 M

    Nature of injury
    21
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    8
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    686
    Human factor
    19
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    0170
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 27 M

    Nature of injury
    21
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    8
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    686
    Human factor
    19
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    0170
    Task assigned
    1
  3. #3 Hospitalized Age 26 M

    Nature of injury
    21
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    8
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    686
    Human factor
    19
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    0170
    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.