OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14528012
OXYGEN DEFICIENCY,RESPIRATORY,NITROGEN,SANDBLASTING,RESPIRATOR
Event description
TWO EMPLOYEES DIED: SUPPLIED WITH NITROGEN GAS FOR BREATHING
Investigation abstract
ON JULY 30, 1987, EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WERE SAND BLASTING IN A PIT UNDER A WEIGHI ENOUGH AMBIENT OXYGEN IN THE PIT TO SUPPORT LIFE SINCE SEVERAL EMPLOYEES ENTERED THE PIT WITHOUT ANY PROBLEM MINUTES AFTER THE ACCIDENT WITHOUT USING RESPIRATOR S OR SUPPLIED AIR. NG SCALE AT A CHEMICAL PLANT. THE EMPLOYEES WORKED FOR A PAINTING CONTRACTOR. TH E MEN'S BLASTING EQUIPMENT WAS CONNECTED TO A DIESEL-POWERED MOBILE AIR COMPRESS OR. THEIR ABRASIVE BLASTING RESPIRATORS WERE CONNECTED TO A COMPRESSED AIR LINE IN A BUILDING AT THE CHEMICAL PLANT. THE PLANT LOST POWER AND USE OF ITS AIR COM PRESSORS THE DAY OF THE ACCIDENT. THE COMPRESSED-AIR LINES OF THE BUILDING WERE FILLED WITH PRESSURIZED NITROGEN. THEREFORE THE MEN'S ABRASIVE BLASTING RESPIRAT ORS WERE SUPPLIED WITH NITROGEN BY BEING CONNECTED TO THE BUILDING'S COMPRESSED AIR LINES. ACCORDING TO THE CORONER THE MEN DIED OF A LACK OF OXYGEN. THERE WAS
Victims (3)
-
#1 Fatality Age 30 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 31
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1900
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Fatality Age 25 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 31
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1900
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#981 Degree 0 Age 0
- Nature of injury
- 0
- Part of body
- 0
- Event type
- 0
- Source
- 0
- Occupation code
- 0
- Human factor
- 0
- Environmental factor
- 0
- Task assigned
- 0
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.