OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #734707
CULLUM ELECTRIC & MECHANICAL, INC.
LAURENS, SC·
Event description
OVERCOME BY PAINT STRIPPER FUMES
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE # ONE, AN ELECTRICIAN, HAD BEEN DOING WIRING IN AN ELECTRICAL SUBSTATIO N. HE HEARD AN UNUSUAL NOISE FROM THE DOWNSTAIRS AREA IN THE SUBSTATION AND WENT DOWN TO INVESTIGATE. HE WAS EXPOSED TO, AND OVERCOME BY, FUMES WHICH HAD ACCUMU LATED FROM PAINT REMOVER WHICH HAD BEEN APPLIED EARLIER TO THE FLOOR. THE PAINT REMOVER HAD AS ITS COMPONENTS 66% METHYLENE CHLORIDE, 10% ACETONE, 8% METHANOL, 8% TOLULENE AND 6% MEK FA-4% (AROMATIC). THE BASEMENT AREA IS 30 FEET BY 24 FEET , AND IS 35 FEET BELOW GROUND LEVEL. THE PAINT REMOVER WAS PUT DOWN BY THE HARRI SON PAINT COMPANY.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 31 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 31
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 555
- Human factor
- 17
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1730
- 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.