OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #737015
RESPIRATORY,TRICHLOROETHANE,HEAT,INHALATION,DEGREASER,TOXIC FUMES
Event description
EMPLOYEES EXPOSED TO TRICHLOROETHANE VAPORS FROM DEGREASER
Investigation abstract
AT APPROXIMATELY, 1:15 AM ON JUNE 27, 1985 (3RD WORK SHIFT), SEVERAL HOSPITAL EM ES WORKING IN ADJACENT AREAS. PLOYEES WERE WORKING APPROXIMATELY 60 FEET FROM A DEGREASER CONTAINING 1,1,1 TRI CHLOROETHANE. AN UNINJURED EMPLOYEE SMELLED SOLVENT VAPORS AND NOTIFIED THE SUPE RVISOR. THE SUPERVISOR TURNED OFF THE DEGREASER AND EVACUATED THE AREAS SURROUND ING IT. THERE WERE NO EMPLOYEES AT THE DEGREASER AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT. TH E DEGREASER DESIGN INCORPORATES A CONDENSER, CONTROLLED BY A VALVE, WHICH MAINTA INS A COOLING LAYER. THE COOLING LAYER KEEPS THE VAPORS INSIDE THE TANK. THE TEM PEATURE WAS TURNED UP BY ADJUSTING THE VALVE. THE COOLING LAYER WAS THUS LOST. T HE DEGREASER BEGAN TO EMIT VAPORS, RESULTING IN AN OVEREXPOSURE TO THREE EMPLOYE
Victims (3)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 41 F
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 29
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 655
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 2495
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 43 F
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 29
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 655
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 2495
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#3 Non-hospitalized injury Age 32 F
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 29
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 9
- Occupation code
- 655
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 2495
- 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.