105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14548374

RESPIRATORY,UNCONSCIOUSNESS,MEK,VENTILATION,HEADACHE,WORK RULES,INHALATION,NAUSEA,TOXIC FUMES

Event
RESPIRATORY,UNCONSCIOUSNESS,MEK,VENTILATION,HEADACHE,WORK RULES,INHALATION,NAUSEA,TOXIC FUMES
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14548374
Report ID
1050210

Event description

EMPLOYEE EXPOSED TO MEK AND MIBK

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1, AN ALASKA AIR NATIONAL GUARD MAINTENANCE WORKER, WAS GIVEN THE JOB OF APPLYING 3M SCOTCH CLAD BRAND NON-SLIP COATING NO. 1420 TO A GRATE. THE GRATE WAS LOCATED IN A POORLY VENTILATED ROOM. AFTER HE HAD WORKED FOR ABOUT AN HOUR AND 45 MINUTES, HE BECAME NAUSEOUS AND EXPERIENCED CHEST PAINS, DIFFICULTY BREAT HING, A HEADACHE AND NARCOSIS. HE WAS HOSPITALIZED. THE SYMPTOMS HE EXPERIENCED ARE TYPICAL OF THOSE CAUSED BY EXPOSURE TO METHYL ETHYL KETONE (MEK) AND METHYL ISOBUTYL KETONE (MIBK). THE NON-SLIP COATING NO. 1420, WHICH HE HAD BEEN APPLYIN G, CONTAINED BOTH MEK AND MIBK.

Victim

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 36 M

    Nature of injury
    17
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    8
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    17
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    0430
    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.