OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #825901
RESPIRATORY,HYDROCHLORIC ACID,WORK RULES,INHALATION,CHLORINE,CHEMICAL REACTION,TOXIC FUMES
Event description
THREE EMPLOYEES APPARENTLY INHALED CHLORINE GAS
Investigation abstract
AT ABOUT 2:30 PM ON OCTOBER 10, 1986, EMPLOYEE #2 WAS TRANSFERRING MURIATIC ACID ME DAY. BETWEEN PARTIALLY FILLED DRUMS TO MAKE FULL DRUMS AND FREE UP STORAGE SPACE. HE WAS USING A SIPHON PUMP. THE PARTIALLY FILLED DRUMS WERE LEFT OVER FROM THE SUM MER SWIMMING POOL SEASON. WHEN THE CONTENTS OF ONE DRUM CAME IN CONTACT WITH THE CONTENTS OF ANOTHER, A REACTION OCCURED WHICH CAUSED THE EMISSION OF A GREENISH -YELLOW CLOUD TO THE SURROUNDING AREA. AN ANALYSIS OF THE REMAINING LIQUID SHOWE D THAT IT WAS 80% CHLORINE AND 20% HYDROCHLORIC ACID. THREE EMPLOYEES WHO WERE N EARBY, INCLUDING EMPLOYEE #2, INHALED THE GAS AND HAD TO BE TAKEN TO A LOCAL HOS PITAL. THEY SUFFERED FROM RESPIRATORY IRRITATION. ALL WERE RELEASED LATER THE SA
Victims (3)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 40 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 863
- Human factor
- 17
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 17 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 889
- Human factor
- 17
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#3 Hospitalized Age 27 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 889
- Human factor
- 17
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 0640
- 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.