OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14557763
CONFINED SPACE,WORK RULES,INHALATION,SHUT-OFF VALVE,DROWN,TOXIC FUMES,SEWAGE,SLUDGE,INATTENTION,PUMPING STATION
Event description
TWO EMPLOYEES DIED WHEN SLUDGE PUMP ROOM WAS FLOODED
Investigation abstract
FOUR WORKMEN WERE TRYING TO FIND A LEAK IN A RECIRCULATING SEWAGE PUMP. THEY DEC IDED TO REMOVE THE PRESSURE (INSPECTION) PLATE FROM THE PUMP. INSTRUCTIONS WERE THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO TURN THE FOUR MAIN DIGESTER VALVES OFF, BUT TWO OF THE VALVES WERE LEFT OPEN. WHEN THE INSPECTION PLATE WAS REMOVED, A HUGE SPRAY OF DIGESTER FLUID (SLUDGE) ERUPTED. THE PUMP ROOM WAS QUICKLY FLOODED. THE DECIS ION TO EVACUATE MAY HAVE BEEN DELAYED IN AN ATTEMPT TO CLOSE THE VALVES. EMPLOYE ES #1 AND #2 EITHER DROWNED OR WERE KILLED BY TOXIC GASES EMITTED BY THE SLUDGE.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Fatality Age 58 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 40
- Occupation code
- 694
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Fatality Age 30 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 40
- Occupation code
- 694
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1640
- 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.