OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14547723
WORK RULES,INHALATION,GAS,CHLORINE,VALVE,SEAL,CHEMICAL VAPOR,TOXIC FUMES,OVEREXPOSURE,ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE
Event description
Three employees injured when exposed to chlorine gas
Investigation abstract
At 9:26 p.m. on August 30, 1988, a coworker at the Alaska Pacific Seafoods, Inc. , Employees #1 through #3 were exposed to the chlorine gas and required medical assistance. Employee #1 was transported to Kodiak Island Hospital, where he was hospitalized overnight for observation. , processing plant in Kodiak, AK, was in an outdoor area in front of the plant w here the chlorine cylinders are stored and hooked into the water chlorination sy stem. He was changing an almost empty chlorine cylinder. He closed the valve on the empty tank and broke the connection to the system. The coworker then realize d that the valve had not closed all the way and was releasing chlorine into the area. He ran into the shop, got a respirator, and tried unsuccessfully to open a nd reclose the valve. The coworker was in such a dense cloud of chlorine that he was forced to abandon the effort and call the fire department. During this time
Victims (3)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 24 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 686
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 20 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 686
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 2
-
#3 Non-hospitalized injury Age 51 F
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 686
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- 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.