OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221363328

NORTHWEST NEW MEXICO REGIONAL SOLID WASTE AUTHORITY

THOREAU, NM· 2021-05-25T00:00:00

Event: Air Monitoring, Chemical, Chemical Exposure, Chemical Vapor, Communication, Confined Space, Entry Permit, Equipment Operator, Hazard Communication, Hydrogen Sulfide, Lack of oxygen, Lung, Maintenance, Methane, Overexposure, Oxygen Deficiency, Pump, Respiratory, Respiratory Tract, Toxic Atmosphere, Training, Unauthorized, Ventilation, Warning Sign
NAICS: 562212
Inspection type: Federal Agency
Activity number: #345365100
Employer profile: NORTHWEST NEW MEXICO REGIONAL SOLID WASTE AUTHORITY
Summary number: 221363328
Report ID: 0653510

Event description

Two employees are killed from overexposure to gas in vault

Investigation abstract

At 1:00 p.m. on May 25, 2021, Employee #1 and Employee #2 were conducting maintenance work on a pump above a leachate vault. A coworker dropped a cellphone inside the vault and left to look for a tool to retrieve the cellphone. Employee #1 and Employee #2 entered the vault to retrieve the phone and and were overcome by methane and hydrogen sulfide gases and were killed.

Victims (2)

#1 Fatality Age 34 M

Event type
8
#2 Fatality Age 66 M

Event type
8

Occupation code
7020

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.