OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221630601

BELL GAS, INC.

ROSWELL, NM· 2023-12-30T00:00:00

Event: Air Monitoring, Alarm, Asphyxiated, Carbon Monoxide, Carboxyhemoglobin, Chemical, Chemical Exposure, Chemical Reaction, Chemical Vapor, Clogged, Emergency Response, Gas, Hydrochloric Acid, Hydrogen Sulfide, Insufficient Supervision, Lack of Engineering Controls, Lack of Work Procedures, Loss of consciousness, Lung, Maintenance, Misjudgment, Misjudgment of Hazardous Situation, Non-PEL Overexposure, Overcome by vapors, Overexposure, Painter, Petroleum, Plumbing, Repair, Respirator, Respiratory Tract, Unconsciousness, Vapor, Ventilation
NAICS: 424720
Inspection type: Federal Agency
Activity number: #347203556
Employer profile: BELL GAS, INC.
Summary number: 221630601
Report ID: 0653510

Event description

Employee loses consciousness due to H2S exposure, later dies

Investigation abstract

At 11:00 a.m. on December 19, 2023, an employee who performed maintenance work On December 30, 2023, the employee was taken off of life support and died. The cause of death was determined to be H2S and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. for petroleum products wholesaler was called to check on a plumbing issue at a gas station. The employee left the site and returned at 3:30 p.m. to complete the job. The employee went into the bathroom to continue working on the plumbing issue. He removed the toilet and poured muriatic acid into the drains. The employee was found unconscious at 4:30 p.m. When emergency responders arrived on site, their personal hydrogen sulfide (H2S) monitors began to alarm even prior to entry into the bathroom where the employee was located. The employee was transported to a medical center and then transferred to another medical center.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 56 M

Event type
8

Occupation code
579

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.