OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14529929
EYE,RESPIRATORY,THROAT,INHALATION,NAUSEA,CHLORINE,CHEMICAL REACTION,CHEMICAL VAPOR,POISONING,TOXIC FUMES
Event description
Ten employees injured after inhaling toxic gas
Investigation abstract
At approximately 7:05 a.m. on December 14, 1987, a worker in the paint departme int department. No other chemicals were being used there, but at about 7:15 a.m. , they began experiencing respiratory irritation, burning eyes and throat, nause a, difficulty breathing, and weakness. Workers in the paint department were not affected. Apparently, the elevated temperature during mixing resulted in the rel ease of a gas, which may have been chlorine. The detergent and other material di d not contain any chlorinated chemicals. However, the city water supply is chlor inated, and the elevated temperature during mixing may have caused a transient r eaction that released the gas, which employees described as having an odor like bleach. nt began adding Oakite Crystal 147, a granular detergent, to a tank containing a pproximately 1,600 gallons of water to make a wash that was used to remove dirt and oil from sheet metal before painting. This wash was mixed once every 4 to 6 weeks using water that was typically between 80 and 90 degrees F. Once mixed, th e solution was heated to 140 degrees F, and then pumped through a ventilated was hing tunnel into spray nozzles. On the day of the accident, the water in the tan k had been heated to 140 degrees F before mixing. Employees #1 through #10 were working on the opposite side of this building, approximately 1000 ft from the pa
Victims (10)
-
#1 Non-hospitalized injury Age 33 M
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#10 Non-hospitalized injury Age 37 F
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 44 F
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#3 Non-hospitalized injury Age 60 F
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#4 Non-hospitalized injury Age 52 F
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#5 Non-hospitalized injury Age 39 F
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#6 Non-hospitalized injury Age 32 M
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#7 Non-hospitalized injury Age 63 F
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#8 Non-hospitalized injury Age 43 F
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#9 Non-hospitalized injury Age 41 F
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 9
- 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.