OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #761338
CHEMICAL LEAMAN TANK LINES, INC.
GREENSBORO, NC·
Event description
EMPLOYEE OVERCOME BY CARBON MONOXIDE IN A CONFINED SPACE
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 AND A HELPER (TRAINEE) WERE CLEANING A 40 FOOT OVER-THE-ROAD TANKER. POISONING. THE EMPLOYEE WAS ADMITTED TO THE HOSPITAL FOR TREATMENT. THE TANKER HAD LAST CONTAINED LIQUID CORN SYRUP. A HOT WATER FLUSH WAS NOT AVAI LABLE SO THE EMPLOYEES USED CAUSTIC SODA (NAOH) TO CLEAN THE TANK. THE TIME WAS APPROXIMATELY 5:40 PM. AFTER THE CLEANING PROCESS WAS COMPLETED, THE TRAINEE WEN T HOME. EMPLOYEE #1 THEN ENTERED THE TANKER TO CHECK FOR ANY CORN SYRUP RESIDUE. HE WAS IMMEDIATELY OVERCOME BY CARBON MONOXIDE GAS. ANOTHER EMPLOYEE (A MECHANI C) MISSED EMPLOYEE #1 AND BEGAN TO SEARCH FOR HIM. HE WAS FOUND LYING FACE-UP IN THE TANK. THE MECHANIC AND ANOTHER EMPLOYEE WERE ABLE TO RESCUE EMPLOYEE #1. EM PLOYEE #1 WAS TAKEN TO A LOCAL HOSPITAL WHERE THE DIAGNOSIS WAS CARBON MONOXIDE
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 52 M
- Nature of injury
- 17
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 10
- Occupation code
- 863
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 9
- 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.