OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14566897
RESPIRATORY,INHALATION,SULFUR DIOXIDE,HEAT,CHEMICAL REACTION,CHEMICAL
Event description
RUNAWAY REACTION PRODUCED SULFUR DIOXIDE, EMPLOYEE EXPOSED
Investigation abstract
ON JULY 29, 1985, 4,200 POUNDS OF THIOUREA DIOXIDE AND 800 POUNDS OF SODIUM SULF CHEMICAL REACTION COULD HAVE BEEN INITIATED BY HEAT BUILD-UP ON A FAULTY COUPLI NG ON THE INTENSIFIER BAR, OR BY CONTAMINATION BY MOISTURE OF THE RAW MATERIALS, OR A COMBINATION OF THE TWO FACTORS. ATE WERE MIXED IN A 5,000 POUND CAPACITY STAINLESS STEEL BLENDER. A SELF-SUSTAIN ING OXIDATION REACTION OCCURRED, CONSUMING ALL THE MATERIAL IN THE BLENDER. LARG E AMOUNTS OF SULFUR DIOXIDE WERE RELEASED AS A DECOMPOSITION PRODUCT. THE GAS ES CAPED FROM THE VESSEL THROUGH A GASKET WHICH RUPTURED DUE TO THE PRESSURE BUILD- UP. ONE EMPLOYEE WHO WORKED IN AN ADJACENT RECEIVING AREA INHALED SULFER DIOXIDE WHILE LEAVING THE BUILDING. HE WAS TREATED FOR PULMONARY IRRITATION BY THE COMP ANY PHYSICAN. HE WAS RELEASED THE SAME AFTERNOON AND RETURNED TO WORK THE NEXT M ORNING. ALL THE OTHER EMPLOYEES WERE EVACUATED WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT EXPOSURE. THE
Victims (2)
-
#1 Non-hospitalized injury Age 25 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 883
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 2290
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#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.