OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14528020
OXYGEN DEFICIENCY,ASPHYXIATED,SANDBLASTING,RESPIRATOR,CONSTRUCTION,NITROGEN
Event description
CONSTRUCTION WORKERS ASPHYXIATED BY NITROGEN IN RESPIRATORS
Investigation abstract
ON JULY 30, 1987, EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WERE SANDBLASTING IN A PIT UNDER A WEIGHIN SEVERAL EMPLOYEES SAFELY ENTERED THE PIT MINUTES AFTER THE ACCIDENT WITH NO RES PIRATORY PROTECTION. G SCALE AT A CHEMICAL PLANT. THE EMPLOYEES WERE EMPLOYED BY A PAINTING CONTRACTO R. THE BLASTING EQUIPMENT WAS HOOKED TO A DIESEL-POWERED MOBILE AIR COMPRESSOR A ND THEIR ABRASIVE BLASTING RESPIRATORS TO A COMPRESSED AIR LINE AT THE CHEMICAL PLANT. THE PLANT HAD LOST POWER AND ITS AIR COMPRESSORS SHUT OFF THE DAY OF THE ACCIDENT. THE COMPRESSED AIR LINES IN THE BUILDING HAD BEEN FILLED WITH PRESSURI ZED NITROGEN. THEREFORE THE EMPLOYEES' ABRASIVE BLASTING RESPIRATORS WERE SUPPLI ED WITH NITROGEN INSTEAD OF AIR. THE EMPLOYEES DIED OF OXYGEN DEPRIVATION. THERE WAS ENOUGH OXYGEN IN THE PIT'S ATMOSPHERE TO SUPPORT LIFE, AS DEMONSTRATED WHEN
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.