OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #694216
DEGREASER TANK,UNCONSCIOUSNESS,CONFINED SPACE,WORK RULES,CLEANING,INHALATION,FREON,POISONING,TOXIC FUMES,UNTRAINED
Event description
EMPLOYEE DIED WHILE CLEANING TANK CONTAINING FREON 113
Investigation abstract
THREE MEN FROM THE AFTERNOON CREW WERE ASSIGNED TO CLEAN A VAPOR/ULTRASONIC DEGR D RAGS TO CLEAN THE BOTTOM OF THE DEGREASER. SHORTLY AFTER ENTERING THE TANK, TH E MEN EXPERIENCED BREATHING PROBLEMS AND CLIMBED OUT. EMPLOYEE #1 COLLAPSED AND FELL TO THE FLOOR. THE AUTOPSY LISTED THE CAUSE OF DEATH AS FREON (1,1,2 TRICHLO RO-1,2,2, TRIFLUORO ETHANE) POISONING. EASING TANK. THE THREE WERE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE CLEANING PROCEDURES, SO THEY OBT AINED A COPY OF THE CLEANING PROCEDURES, THEN PROCEEDED TO PUMP THE SOLVENT INTO FIFTY-FIVE GALLON DRUMS. THE CHEMICAL NAME FOR THE SOLVENT USED IN THE DEGREASE R IS 1,1,2 TRICHLORO-1,2,2 TRIFLUOROETHANE, (COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS FREON 113). THE TANK WAS DRAINED UNTIL ONLY APPROXIMATELY ONE GALLON OF THE SOLVENT REMAINE D. THEY THEN DECIDED TO BREAK FOR LUNCH. ON THEIR WAY BACK FROM LUNCH THEY MET E MPLOYEE #1, WHO WAS FAMILIAR WITH SOLVENT RECOVERY AND CLEANING OF THE DEGREASER . HE VOLUNTEERED TO GO BACK TO THE DEGREASER AND HELP. THE EMPLOYEES HAD OBTAINE
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 25 M
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 27
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 6
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 2485
- Task assigned
- 2
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.