OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #707349
RESPIRATORY,TANK TRUCK,CONFINED SPACE,WORK RULES,CLEANING,INHALATION,TOXIC FUMES,POLYESTER RESIN
Event description
EMPLOYEE OVERCOME BY FUMES WHILE CLEANING INSIDE TANK TRUCK
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 WAS WORKING OVERTIME ON A SATURDAY, CLEANING THE INSIDE OF TANKER TR R ABOUT TWO HOURS, THEN RETURN AND DRY OFF THE INSIDE BY ENTERING THE TANK AND W IPING IT DOWN. HOWEVER, ON THIS PARTICULAR DAY, THE EMPLOYEE WAS IN A HURRY BECA USE HE HAD THREE TRUCKS TO CLEAN. THE DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AND THE HEAD FOREMA N WERE NOT AT THE PLANT. TWO OTHER EMPLOYEES WERE LEFT IN CHARGE. HE DECIDED TO GO INSIDE THE TANKER WITH THE STEAMER WAND AND STEAM THE WALLS DOWN BY HAND TO H ASTEN THE JOB. AFTER WORKING FOR ABOUT 10 MINUTES HE BEGAN TO BE OVERCOME BY THE FUMES. BECAUSE EVERYTHING WAS WET, HE WAS SLIPPING AND SLIDING. THE LADDER SLIP PED OUT OF THE HATCH HOLE. AFTER GETTING THE LADDER BACK IN THE HOLE, HE CLIMBED UP PARTIALLY, THEN CALLED FOR HELP. THE TWO OTHER EMPLOYEES PULLED HIM OUT. HE WAS TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL, BUT RELEASED THE NEXT DAY. THE EMPLOYER WILL BE CITED UCKS. HE HAD CLEANED ABOUT 15 TANKERS PREVIOUSLY, USING A PROCEDURE WHICH HAD BE FOR SAFETY VIOLATIONS. EN ORALLY COMMUNICATED TO HIM. THE TRUCKS HAD PREVIOUSLY CONTAINED LIQUID POLYES TER OR A FORM OF SILICONE. NO MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET HAD BEEN PROVIDED FOR T HE MATERIALS. HE WAS NOT EQUIPPED WITH ANY TEST EQUIPMENT TO CHECK THE OXYGEN LE VELS BEFORE ENTERING THE TANK, NOR HE PROVIDED WITH AN EMPLOYEE MONITOR OR SAFET Y LINE TO WHICH HE COULD ATTACH HIMSELF. HE HAD BEEN TAUGHT TO PLACE A STEAMER W AND INTO THE TANK, THEN ADD "ZEP" EMULSIFIER AND LET THE MIXTURE BUBBLE. THE TAN KER WOULD THUS BE CLEANED BY STEAMING. THE EMPLOYEE WOULD LET THE STEAMER RUN FO
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 39 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 31
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 474
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- 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.