OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14457196
ALBERTSON'S INC.
NORTH SALT LAKE, UT·
Event description
INHALED PHOSGENE GAS
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 WAS ATTEMPING TO REPAIR A LEAK IN A REFRIGERATION SYSTEM. ALTHOUGH W RITTEN AND ESTABLISHED PROCEEDURES REQUIRED IT, THE EMPLOYEE DID NOT DRAIN AND P URGE THE PRESSURING SYSTEM BEFORE BEGINNING THE REPAIRS. HE HAD BEEN THE SHOP FO REMAN FOR 2 1/2 YEARS, AND HAD RUN HIS OWN BUSINESS FOR 22 YEARS BEFORE THAT. HE BEGAN HEATING A COPPER TUBING JOINT THAT WAS HELD TOGETHER WITH ZEBAN SOLDER. T HE HOLE ENLARGED, CAUSING THE FREON TO SPRAY OUT INTO THE TORCH FLAME. THE PHOSG ENE THUS CREATED SPILLED INTO THE EMPLOYEE'S BREATHING ZONE, CAUSING RESPIRATORY DISTRESS AND SUBSEQUENT HOSPITALIZATION.
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 60 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 534
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0871
- 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.