Electroplater and Four Co-workers Die from Asphyxiation in Metal Plating Vat

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  The case of a 25 year old male electroplater and four coworkers who died after entering a metal plating vat being cleaned was examined. The victim was employed by an electroplating company that had no written safety program, no emergency procedures, no ongoing safety training, and no confined space safe entry procedure. In a cleaning procedure that had not been tried before, the victim manually pumped between 1 and 2 gallons of 1 percent muriatic-acid solution into the zinc-cyanide holding tank, and climbed into the tank. The tank had not been tested nor ventilated before entry. The muriatic-acid and zinc-cyanide reacted chemically, producing hydrogen-cyanide (74908) gas which overcame the victim shortly after entering the tank. Coworkers observed the man trying to climb out but falling back
  
  they rushed to help. Four coworkers entered the tank and were overcome. By this time most others could not even get close to the holding tank due to the fumes. Police and firefighters who responded were initially unaware that hydrogen-cyanide was involved
  
  four police officers, 13 firefighters and a medical examiner required medical treatment. Twelve additional company workers also required treatment. The deaths of all five electroplaters were listed as due to exposure to hydrogen-cyanide vapor. It is recommended that the company develop and implement a written safety and training program, a procedure for confined space entry, and a comprehensive respirator program. Personnel responsible for emergency rescue should be trained in confined space rescue and hazardous material emergencies.
  
  
• Content Notes:
  Publication date provided by the authoring office. There is no publication date indicated on the resource.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Confined Spaces Electroplating Hazardous Substances Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Confined-spaces FACE-88-33 OSHA Region 5 Safety-research Toxic-gases Work-practices Zinc-plating
• 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/NIOSHFACE8833
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Indiana ; OSHA Region 5
• 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:
  5 pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00186216
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB89-188692
• 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 88-33, 1988 Dec ; :1-9
• CAS Registry Number:
  Hydrogen cyanide, (CAS RN 74-90-8)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1989
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  31-33 - Manufacturing - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1988/06/28
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0e767d6901585b41b95c5e37ce8d4c5bb7f58eb1dad1d79ef2fb131a3dc10cb634e26ea68c9afcd07d7c31589c7b62664fc65f5ad748007419a4163b23baed16
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/164470/cdc_164470_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 390.55 KB ]