OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #809897
WORK RULES,SULFUR DIOXIDE,SPILL,TOXIC FUMES,OVEREXPOSURE,INATTENTION
Event description
Employees exposed to sulfur dioxide from spill
Investigation abstract
Employees #1, #2, and #3 were working at the end of a hallway at the rear of a p their area but had to travel down the hall through the sulfur dioxide gas. Emplo yees #2 and #3 were hospitalized. lant in the manganese dioxide cathode area, which was approximately 100 feet fro m a rear exit door. That afternoon, the door was open. Outside, 100 feet from th e door and next to the building, sulfur dioxide was being transferred from a tan k truck to a storage tank. At the end of the transfer operation, the hose was di sconnected and laid on the ground, spilling a quart of liquid sulfur dioxide on the ground. The wind carried the gas/vapor along the back wall, into the door (t he plant is under negative pressure), and down the hallway. An alarm was trigger ed in the fill room adjacent to the hallway. Employees #1, #2, and #3 evacuated
Victims (3)
-
#1 Non-hospitalized injury Age 30 F
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 31
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 785
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 2290
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 35 F
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 31
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 785
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 2290
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#3 Hospitalized Age 40 F
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 31
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 785
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 2290
- 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.