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 #14554570

RESPIRATORY,UNCONSCIOUSNESS,PPE,WORK RULES,TOLUENE,OVEREXPOSURE,VAPOR,CONFINED SPACE,CONSTRUCTION

Event
RESPIRATORY,UNCONSCIOUSNESS,PPE,WORK RULES,TOLUENE,OVEREXPOSURE,VAPOR,CONFINED SPACE,CONSTRUCTION
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14554570
Report ID
728900

Event description

CONSTRUCTION EMPLOYEES OVEREXPOSED TO TOLUENE VAPORS

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1 ENTERED AN 8000 GALLON TOLUENE STORAGE TANK SATURATED WITH TOLUENE V APORS WITHOUT FIRST TESTING FOR AN IDLH CONDITION, AND WITHOUT SCBA RESPIRATORY EQUIPMENT OR A SAFETY HARNESS AND LIFELINE. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS OVERCOME BY THE VAPO RS AND COLLAPSED SHORTLY AFTER ENTERING THE TANK AND PERFORMING SOME WORK. EMPLO YEE #2 HEARD EMPLOYEE #1 GROAN AND COLLAPSE. EMPLOYEE #2 THEN ENTERED THE TANK T O RESCUE EMPLOYEE #1, WAS OVERCOME BY THE VAPOR AND ALSO COLLAPSED. THE EMPLOYEE S WERE DISCOVERED ABOUT 2 HOURS LATER AND WERE RESCUED BY FIRE DEPARTMENT PERSON NEL. BOTH EMPLOYEES WERE HOSPITALIZED.

Victims (3)

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 33 M

    Nature of injury
    17
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    8
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    2460
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 20 M

    Nature of injury
    17
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    8
    Source
    9
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    7
    Hazardous substance
    2460
    Task assigned
    1
  3. #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.