OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #825927
OXYGEN DEFICIENCY,RESPIRATORY,CONFINED SPACE,WORK RULES,NITROGEN,ELEC UTILITY WORK,UNTRAINED
Event description
EMPLOYEE ENTERED OXYGEN DEFICIENT CONFINED SPACE
Investigation abstract
WORKERS WERE COMPLETING A LOW PRESSURE NITROGEN TEST ON 115-KILOVOLT CONDUIT CAB THE VAULT AND PASSED OUT DUE TO A TRANSIENT ANOXIA CONDITION. THE ATTENDANTS IN ITIALLY ATTEMPTED TO RESCUE EMPLOYEE #1, BUT FOLLOWED INCORRECT PROCEDURES. THEY WERE NOT AFFECTED BY THE NITROGEN, AND WERE EVENTUALLY ABLE TO REMOVE EMPLOYEE #1 FROM THE CONFINED SPACE. THE EMPLOYEES IN THIS INCIDENT WERE NOT TRAINED ADEQ UATELY TO HANDLE THE SITUATION. LES. THE FOREMAN ASSIGNED TO THIS TASK WAS TRANSFERRED TO ANOTHER JOB. THE EMPLO YEES WERE WRONGLY LED TO BELIEVE THAT A SUBSTITUTE FOREMAN WAS TO SUPERVISE THE OPERATION. AN INCORRECT PROCEDURE WAS USED IN PURGING THESE LINES. AS A RESULT, THE CONDUIT VAULTS WERE FILLED WITH NITROGEN. EMPLOYEE #1 ENTERED A VAULT TO RET RIVE SOME SAFETY CONES, AFTER NOTIFYING THE SUBSTITUTE FOREMAN. THE CONES HAD BE EN PLACED THERE THE PREVIOUS DAY. NEITHER EMPLOYEE #1 NOR THE SUBSTITUTE FOREMAN WAS AWARE OF ANY POSSIBLE HAZARDS. THE SUBSTITUTE FOREMAN AND ANOTHER WORKER WE RE FOLLOWING ESTABLISHED POLICY BY FUCTIONING AS ATTENDANTS. EMPLOYEE #1 ENTERED
Victim
-
#1 Non-hospitalized injury Age 32 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 31
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 599
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1900
- 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.