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 #14478119

RESPIRATORY,CONFINED SPACE,WORK RULES,CLEANING,INHALATION,DEGREASER,TOXIC FUMES,TRICHLORETHYLENE,RESPIRATOR

Event
RESPIRATORY,CONFINED SPACE,WORK RULES,CLEANING,INHALATION,DEGREASER,TOXIC FUMES,TRICHLORETHYLENE,RESPIRATOR
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14478119
Report ID
111100

Event description

EXPOSED TO TRICHLORETHYLENE IN VAPOR DEGREASER

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1 WAS CLEANING A VAPOR DEGREASER WHICH WAS 8 FEET LONG AT THE TOP, 6 F EET, 2 INCHES LONG AT THE BOTTOM, 41 1/2 INCHES WIDE AND 41 1/2 INCHES TALL. THE DEGREASER WAS MADE BY BY SIREM OF ITALY, MODEL SL-1, SN SB-124185. EMPLOYEE #1 ENTERED THE TANK WITHOUT USING ANY KIND OF RESPIRATORY PROTECTION. THE OPERATING PROCEDURE FOR CLEANING THE DEGREASER DID NOT CONTAIN ANY PROCEDURES FOR THE SAF E ENTRY OF CONFINED SPACES. THE CAUSE OF DEATH WAS LISTED AS EXPOSURE TO TRICHLO RETHYLENE AND 1, 1, 1 TRICHLOROETHANE (PROBABLE VENTRICULAR FIBRILLATION).

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 31 M

    Nature of injury
    21
    Part of body
    31
    Event type
    12
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    16
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1720
    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.