OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #731729
OXYGEN DEFICIENCY,ASPHYXIATED,VENTILATION,PPE,TOXIC ATMOSPHERE,CONSTRUCTION,SHAFT,MANHOLE,RESPIRATOR
Event description
Employees die of asphyxia in dam shaft
Investigation abstract
At approximately 2:30 p.m. on July 23, 1988, Employees #1 and #2 went to the sit e of a dam for a small lake where they were to turn off a valve controlling an 8 inch silt pipe that went through and under the dam. The valve was located at th e bottom of a concrete lined shaft that was 33 feet 6 inches deep by 4 feet in d iameter and closed at the top by a concrete top with a 24 inch manhole and cast iron cover. The employees entered the shaft. They were discovered dead at the bo ttom of the shaft the next day at 10:00 a.m. The apparent cause of death was asp hyxiation due to oxygen deficiency and/or toxic gases in the shaft atmosphere. N o ventilation was performed, and protective breathing apparatus was not used.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Fatality Age 25 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 43
- Occupation code
- 585
- Human factor
- 19
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 8880
- Task assigned
- 2
-
#2 Fatality Age 34 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 43
- Occupation code
- 585
- Human factor
- 19
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 8880
- 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.