OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #734673
TURNER MURPHY CO., INC.
LAURENS, SC·
Event description
INHALED METHYLENE CHLORIDE VAPORS
Investigation abstract
A PAINTING COMPANY HAD PLACED PAINT REMOVER (STRIPPER-SOLVENT) ON THE FLOOR OF A BASEMENT TO REMOVE OLD PAINT. THE PAINT REMOVER CONTAINED A HIGH CONCENTRATION OF METHELENE CHLORIDE. EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WERE UPSTAIRS IN THE BUILDING. EMPLOY EE #1 DIRECTED EMPLOYEE #2 TO GO TO THE BASEMENT AND TURN ON THE SUMP PUMP. BY T HIS TIME THE BASEMENT HAD FILLED WITH METHELENE CHLORIDE FUMES. WHEN EMPLOYEE #2 GOT TO THE SUMP PUMP HE PASSED OUT. EMPLOYEE #1 WENT DOWN A LITTLE LATER TO CHE CK ON EMPLOYEE #2. HE WAS ALSO OVERCOME BY THE FUMES. EMPLOYEE #2 SURVIVED; EMPL OYEE #1 WAS KILLED. THE BASEMENT WAS 30 FEET LONG BY 24 FEET WIDE. AN AIR SAMPLE TAKEN IN THE BASEMENT REVEALED 1280 PPM OF METHYLENE CHLORIDE.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Fatality Age 40 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 31
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 554
- Human factor
- 19
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1730
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 39 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 31
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 567
- Human factor
- 19
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1730
- 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.