Three Sanitation Workers and One Policeman Die in an Underground Pumping Station in Kentucky

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  One July 5, 1985, one police officer and two sewer workers died in an attempt to rescue a third sewer worker, who had been overcome by sewer gas at the bottom of an underground pumping station. All four persons died in this accident. On the day of the accident two sewer workers entered the 50 foot deep underground pumping station through a metal shaft on a fixed ladder. The ventilation system was not working. Neither worker was wearing protective equipment or clothing. The two workers removed the bolts of an inspection plate from a check valve. When the plate blew off, raw sewage flooded the chamber, overwhelming one of the workers. The second worker escaped and radioed for help, but again entered the station and was also overcome. A police officer responding to the call entered the station, and later the sewage systems field manager entered the station. A fireman wearing a self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) was unable to locate any of the four men. Sewage had completely flooded the underground room. A second fireman entered the shaft wearing a SCBA, but slipped from the ladder and became wedged in the shaft. He was extricated after 30 minutes. Professional divers removed the bodies. A considerable amount of sewage was found in the lungs of the sewer workers at autopsy. It is recommended that employers should develop proper work procedures and should adequately train employees to maintain and repair the sewage system
  
  confined space entry procedures should be developed. Those responsible for emergency rescue should be trained for confined space rescue.
  
  
• Content Notes:
  Publication date provided by the authoring office. There is no publication date indicated on the resource.
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Confined Spaces Emergency Responders Hazardous Substances Law Enforcement Occupational Health Safety Sewage
• Keywords:
  Confined-spaces FACE-85-31 Organic-vapors OSHA Region 4 Policemen Rescue-workers Sewage-industry Sewer-cleaning Toxic-gases
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Confined Space
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  NIOSH (In-House)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFACE8531
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Kentucky ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  3 pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00198516
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB91-197806
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 85-31, 1985 Jul ; :1-5
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1985
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1985/07/05
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:51d585f5f64558e2bc08f43dacdee622e645dd3041fbd685646a0c0af2265542d5e336aa1f6bbac38bbd00d5e58766f1d3459d30b4ebe6976d29a717644eac09
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/164409/cdc_164409_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 221.98 KB ]