OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #674333
RESPIRATORY,INHALATION,CHLORINE,TOXIC FUMES,RESPIRATOR,RUPTURE,CHEMICAL
Event description
2 EMPLOYEES EXPOSED TO CHLORINE GAS FROM LEAKING REVAPORIZER
Investigation abstract
A CHLORINE REVAPORIZER FAILED, CAUSING THE RELEASE INTO THE ATMOSPHERE OF AN UND THE RESPIRATORS. WHEN BREATHING BECAME DIFFICULT THE EMPLOYEES PANICKED. THEN TH E DOOR JAMMED ON THEM. THEY HAD TO USE AN AXE TO FORCE OPEN THE DOOR. BOTH EMPLO YEES WERE ADMITTED TO THE HOSPITAL AFTER FIRST AID TREATMENT AT THE SITE, SHOWIN G SYMPTOMS OF CHEMICAL PNEUMONIA. OTHER EMPLOYEES AT THE SITE WERE ABLE TO ESCAP E TO A SAFE DISTANCE WITHIN A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME. THE CAUSE OF THIS ACCID ENT WAS THOUGHT TO BE AN INTERACTION OF THE CHLORINE WITH THE METAL OF THE REVAP ORIZER. TWENTY-SEVEN CONTRACT EMPLOYEES, EMPLOYED BY TWO SUBCONTRACTORS, WERE AL SO ON-SITE. NONE OF THE 27 REQUIRED HOSPITALIZATION. ETERMINED AMOUNT OF CHLORINE GAS. EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 ENTERED AN ELEVATOR IN AN ADJACENT BUILDING AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME AS THE CHLORINE RELEASE. THE EMPLOYEES NOTICED SMOKE AT THE THIRD FLOOR LEVEL ON THEIR WAY UP TO THE FOURTH FLOOR. THE ELEVATOR WAS EQUIPPED WITH A GLASS WINDOW AND A MANUAL DOOR. ONCE THEY HAD REACH ED THE FOURTH FLOOR THE EMPLOYEES REALIZED THE "SMOKE" WAS ACTUALLY CHLORINE GAS . THEY CLOSED THE ELEVATOR'S MANUAL DOOR AND STARTED BACK DOWN. THEY DONNED CHEM ICAL CANNISTER RESPIRATORS, STORED IN THE ELEVATOR CAR, WHEN THEY NOTICED THE CH LORINE GAS LEAKING INTO THE ELEVATOR CAR. ACIS GAS CANNISTERS WERE INSTALLED IN
Victims (4)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 25 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 756
- Human factor
- 19
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 25 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 756
- Human factor
- 19
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- 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
-
#982 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.