Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025
105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221737083

108652 - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

Event
Assembling, Chemical, Chemical Exposure, Cyanide, Laboratory, Poisoning, Seizure, Sodium Cyanide, Unresponsive
NAICS
611310
Inspection type
Federal Agency
Activity number
#347998627
Employer profile
108652 - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
Summary number
221737083
Report ID
0552700

Event description

Employee dies from possible cyanide poisoning in laboratory

Investigation abstract

At 11:00 a.m. on January 18, 2025, Employee #1 had been assembling a new rotary 2025, Employee #1 died from possible cyanide poisoning. evaporator with Coworker #1 and Coworker #2. The process did not involve the use of any hazardous chemicals. The employee was performing the work in a laboratory adjacent to her office. The employee went into her office and about five minutes later, Coworker #1 and Coworker #2 heard a loud sound and investigated. They found Employee #1 had collapsed and had a seizure. Emergency medical services and transported the Employee #1 to the hospital. She was evaluated and based on her symptoms and the initial assessment from her care team, toxicology testing was ordered due to a potential exposure to cyanide. At 3:47 p.m. on January 18,

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 38 F

    Event type
    14
    Occupation code
    999

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.