OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #687632
OXYGEN DEFICIENCY,ASPHYXIATED,WORK RULES,CONSTRUCTION,NITROGEN,AIR LINE,SANDBLASTING,COMMUNICATION,RESPIRATOR
Event description
Employee dies of oxygen deficiency after inhaling nitrogen
Investigation abstract
On September 8, 1988, Employee #1 and a coworker were sandblasting and painting grating and railings. Employee #1, the sandblaster, used an abrasive blasting re spirator air line that was hooked into the plant's air supply. But the plant air supply was not grade D breathing air and was intended to be used only for valve s, gauges, and pneumatic tools. Because the air compressor was shut down for mai ntenance, nitrogen backfed into the plant air line. No one from the company info rmed Employee #1 or the painter that the line now contained nitrogen. Employee # 1 donned the abrasive blasting helmet, inhaled the nitrogen, and was asphyxiated . He died.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 27 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 43
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1900
- Task assigned
- 1
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.