OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #711903
LUNG,CAUSTIC,VENTILATION,WORK RULES,INHALATION,CHEMICAL REACTION,RESPIRATORY TRACT,CHEMICAL VAPOR,SULFURIC ACID,RESPIRATOR
Event description
Employees exposed to sulfuric acid after chemical reaction
Investigation abstract
Employee #1 was adding cement to a waste ceramic shell containing thorium oxide, spitalized. They were wearing respirators at the time of the accident. This inci dent may be related to a similar occurrence on March 9, 1990, although no worker s were sent to the hospital at that time. The fumes may have spread because a ba y door to the outside was partially open, defeating the negative pressure in the cleaning area. resulting in a caustic sulfuric acid mixture that began to heat up and fume. Wh en he added water, the mixture began to smoke and fume at a greater rate. The fu mes spread to other areas of the plant, and Employees #2 through #9, who were wo rking in the area of the plant nearest to the cleaning department, were evacuate d first, followed by the remainder of the facility. Exposure to sulfuric acid an d possibly oxides of sulfur was suspected, although the actual chemical products to which the workers were exposed are still under investigation. Employees #1 t hrough #9 suffered upper respiratory tract and lung irritation, but none were ho
Victims (9)
-
#1 Non-hospitalized injury Age 22 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 44
- Occupation code
- 758
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 2310
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 30 F
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 44
- Occupation code
- 689
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 2310
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#3 Non-hospitalized injury Age 25 F
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 44
- Occupation code
- 689
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 2310
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#4 Non-hospitalized injury Age 36 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 44
- Occupation code
- 689
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 2310
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#5 Non-hospitalized injury Age 25 F
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 44
- Occupation code
- 689
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 2310
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#6 Non-hospitalized injury Age 35 F
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 44
- Occupation code
- 689
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 2310
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#7 Non-hospitalized injury Age 35 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 44
- Occupation code
- 689
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 2310
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#8 Non-hospitalized injury Age 29 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 44
- Occupation code
- 689
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 2310
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#9 Non-hospitalized injury Age 29 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 44
- Occupation code
- 689
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 2310
- 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.