104,543Records 70,659Employers 84,666Hospitalizations 27,563Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-09-30
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14538896

RESPIRATORY,SEWER,HYDROGEN SULFIDE,POISONING,WORK RULES,INHALATION,MAINTENANCE,CONFINED SPACE

Event
RESPIRATORY,SEWER,HYDROGEN SULFIDE,POISONING,WORK RULES,INHALATION,MAINTENANCE,CONFINED SPACE
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14538896
Report ID
452110

Event description

EXPOSED TO HYDROGEN SULFIDE IN CONFINED SPACE; DIED

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEES #2 AND #3 WERE DOING MAINTAINANCE WORK ON A PUMP IN A SEWER LIFT STATI ON. A VALVE BROKE AND EMPLOYEE #2 WAS HURT. EMPLOYEE #3 WENT TO GET HELP, THEN R ETURNED TO TO THE LIFT STATION TO HELP THE INJURED EMPLOYEE. MEANWHILE, THE WATE R COMPANY HAD CALLED THE POLICE FOR HELP. THE FIRST POLICEMAN (EMPLOYEE #1) RESP ONDED AND ATTEMPTED TO RESCUE THE OTHER TWO EMPLOYEES. SOMETIME LATER, THE SECON D POLICEMAN (EMPLOYEE #4) HEARD A RADIO CALL FROM EMPLOYEE #1 FOR HELP. HE RESPO NDED AND ATTEMPTED TO RESCUE THE OTHER THREE. ALL FOUR MEN DIED FROM EXPOSURE TO HYDROGEN SULFIDE.

Victims (6)

  1. #1 Fatality Age 34 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    8
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    418
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1480
    Task assigned
    2

  2. #2 Fatality Age 28 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    8
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    6
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1480
    Task assigned
    1

  3. #3 Fatality Age 27 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    8
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    6
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1480
    Task assigned
    1

  4. #4 Fatality Age 37 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    8
    Source
    19
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    6
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    1480
    Task assigned
    1

  5. #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

  6. #982 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.

← Back to accident search