Worker Dies While Cleaning Freon 113 Degreasing Tank in Virginia

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  A worker died while assisting three workers who were cleaning out a Freon-113 (76131) vapor degreaser at a chemical fuel plant. During this procedure solvent was drained off and the residue on the bottom of the degreaser was cleaned out. The company had written instructions for cleaning out the degreasing tank. All but about 1 gallon of the solvent had been drained off. After taking a break for lunch, the three men returned, picking up the fourth worker who was experienced in the cleaning operation. Using removable wooden stairs two men, including the experienced worker, climbed into the tank. Shortly thereafter both men had trouble breathing and exited the tank. The experienced worker collapsed to the floor and died shortly. The other worker experienced no ill effects. The men were using air purifying respirators designed for limited use with organic solvents. The cause of death had not been determined. Recommendations arising from this accident include the performance of a preliminary hazard analysis by the employer to determine hazardous areas within the company and design a more detailed task specific job hazard analysis, initiation of comprehensive policies and procedures for confined space entry, the development and implementation of a more comprehensive respirator program including either quantitative or qualitative fit testing and training in the use and limitations of this equipment.
• Content Notes:
  Publication date provided by the authoring office. There is no publication date indicated on the resource.
• Subjects:
  Confined Spaces Fluorocarbons Maintenance Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Health Safety Solvents
• Keywords:
  Chemical-manufacturing-industry Cleaning-compounds Confined-spaces FACE-87-17 Maintenance-workers OSHA Region 3 Vapors
• 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/NIOSHFACE8717
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Virginia ; OSHA Region 3
• 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:
  4 pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00174324
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB88-154513
• 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 87-17, 1986 Dec ; :1-6
• CAS Registry Number:
  1,1,2-Trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane (CAS RN 76-13-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1987
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  31-33 - Manufacturing - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1986/11/21
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:21cd047982549da51096edd495ec50459e9554d880bab18e1de4d1bf6dc0b948afbec5312a680b076888bc92f4edc6391f7ce4321ffa8941e672bf8aaca25463
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/164480/cdc_164480_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 364.53 KB ]