OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14523054
ASPHYXIATED,CONFINED SPACE,TANK,TRICHLORETHYLENE
Event description
TANK ENTRY ASPHYXIATION
Investigation abstract
ON APRIL 17, 1984, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS NEUTRALIZING AN OPEN SURFACE TANK CONTAINING TRICHLORORTHYLENE, WHICH HAD BECOME ACIDIC. SODA ASHWAS DISSOLVED IN WATER AND W AS BEING POURED FROM A BUCKET TO NEUTRALIZE THE SOLVENT. THE TANK WAS 6' DEEP, 3 ' WIDE AND 7' LONG. THE EMPLOYEE EMPTIED THE NEUTRALIZED TRICHLORETHYLENE (WITH A PUMP) TO A HOLDING TANK, AND CLIMBED INTO THE NEUTRALIZING TANK. HE TOOK A BRO OM AND A DUST PAN INTO THE TANK. HE WAS FOUND DEAD INSIDE THE TANK BY ANOTHER EM PLOYEE. THE EMPLOYEE HAD BEEN INSTRUCTED NOT TO ENTER THE TANK FOR ANY REASON.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 37 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 16
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 2490
- Task assigned
- 2
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.