OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #736637
BLUEGRASS FORGING TOOL & DIE CO.
SHELBYVILLE, KY·
Event description
ASPHYXIATED BY CARBON MONOXIDE IN HOUSE TRAILER
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 LIVED IN A SMALL TRAILER, OWNED BY HIS EMPLOYER, AND LOCATED ON THE COMPANY'S PREMISES. THE EMPLOYEE WAS OFF DUTY, LYING ON THE COUCH IN THE TRAILER , WHEN HE WAS OVERCOME BY CARBON MONOXIDE, APPARENTLY GENERATED BY AN IMPROPERLY VENTED PROPANE HEATER. SEVERAL HOLES IN THE EXHAUST DUCT ALLOWED CARBON MONOXID E TO ESCAPE INTO THE TRAILER. THE RETURN AIR INTAKE FOR THE COMBUSTION CHAMBER, LOCATED ADJACENT TO THE EXHAUST, PROBABLY PROVIDED TOO LOW A CONCENTRATION OF OX YGEN TO PERMIT COMPLETE COMBUSTION, THUS INCREASING THE CARBON MONOXIDE OUTPUT. AN AUTOPSY REVEALED THAT EMPLOYEE #1 HAD A CARBOXYHEMOGLOBIN BLOOD LEVEL OF 50%.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 31 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 519
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 0560
- 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.