OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #170249742
UNSECURED,WORK RULES,TOXIC ATMOSPHERE,INHALATION,CHLORINE,SCBA,CHEMICAL VAPOR,LOGGING,ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE
Event description
Three employees overcome by chlorine gas release
Investigation abstract
At approximately 12:20 a.m. on February 5, 1990, two pipefitters at a Weyerhaeus donned a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and entered the gas release area. He was overcome by chlorine gas because his facepiece hose was improperly connected to the regulator. He was also hospitalized. er facility were removing lines from a liquid chlorine storage tank. A discharge valve had apparently been left open, resulting in a back flow of chlorine and t he release of chlorine gas at the point where the pipefitters had removed a sect ion of line. The two workers quickly left the area without harm and notified Emp loyee #2, an operator in the control room. Employees #1 and #3 were working in a djacent areas on liquefaction systems when they were dosed with chlorine gas. Th ey stumbled into the office for help and were given medical care at the facility before being taken to a local hospital. Employee #2, the control room operator,
Victims (3)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 47 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 585
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 49 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 544
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#3 Hospitalized Age 39 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 575
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 9
- 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.