OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #809079
OXYGEN DEFICIENCY,RESPIRATORY,CONFINED SPACE,INHALATION,NATURAL GAS,GAS LEAK,MANHOLE
Event description
EMPLOYEES EXPOSED TO OXYGEN DEFICIENT ATMOSPHERE IN VAULT
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 WAS A CREW SUPERVISOR WHOSE CREW WAS ASSISTING A SERVICEMAN CHANGE A EAKING INTO THE VAULT. WHILE THE SERVICEMAN WAS DOUBLE CHECKING THE VALVE AT STR EET LEVEL, EMPLOYEE #1 ENTERED THE MANHOLE TO LOOK AT THE VALVE ON THE "DOWN" SI DE OF THE LINE. HE PASSED OUT IN THE MANHOLE. EMPLOYEE #2 AND THE SERVICEMAN TRI ED TO RESCUE EMPLOYEE #1 BUT THE LACK OF OXYGEN IN THE HOLE FORCED THEM TO GIVE UP THE EFFORT. AFTER THE GAS WAS TURNED OFF, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS RESCUED AND TRANSPO RTED TO THE HOSPITAL. REGULATOR FOR A NATURAL GAS DISTRIBUTION LINE. THE VALVE AND REGULATOR WERE LOC ATED AT THE BOTTOM OF A MANHOLE/VAULT. THE VAULT CONTAINED ONLY THE GAS LINE. TH E LINE FEEDING THE REGULATOR HAD A TAP LOCATED ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE VALVE WH UCH CONTROLLED THE FLOW OF GAS INTO THE VAULT. THIS CAUSED THE REGULATOR TO BE P RESSURIZED EVEN WHEN THE VALVE AT STREET LEVEL WAS TURNED OFF. WORK ON ANOTHER G AS LINE AT AN ADJACENT INTERSECTING STREET RESULTED IN THE TAPPED LINE BEING CLO SED OFF AT THE TIME OF THE WORK IN THE VAULT. THE WORK ON THE OTHER LINE WAS COM PLETED AND THE GAS TURNED BACK ON. WORKERS AT THE MANHOLE/VAULT COULD HEAR GAS L
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 52 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 12
- Source
- 8
- Occupation code
- 557
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1640
- Task assigned
- 2
-
#2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 46 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 12
- Source
- 8
- Occupation code
- 585
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1640
- 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.