A Hydroblasting Laborer Dies When He Falls Into an Underground Vertical Pipe and Suffocates

Details

• Personal Author:
  Harrison, Robert ; Scholz, Peter ; Styles, Laura
• Corporate Authors:
  California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (CA/FACE) ; California. Department of Public Health. Occupational Health Branch
• Description:
  A hydroblasting laborer working at a geothermal facility died when he fell into an open 24-foot deep vertical pipe. A pump had recently been removed by a facility crew, exposing the top end of the pipe which was at ground level. The opening was covered with a sheet of insulation jacketing which hid the underlying hole. When the victim stepped on the jacketing, he fell through the hole into liquid isopentane at the bottom of the pipe and suffocated. The California Fatality Assessment Control Evaluation (CA/FACE) program concluded that geothermal facility operators and onsite contractors should take the following steps to prevent similar incidents: 1) Hazardous openings should be enclosed with guardrailing and affixed with a warning sign. Alternatively, the openings should be covered with a tool-secured cover strong enough to support foreseeable loads
  
  the cover should be affixed with an appropriate warning placard. 2) Employers sharing a worksite should notify others of activities which may create new hazards. This is part of their Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) responsibility on a multi-employer worksite. 3) Supervisors and foremen, as part of their employer's IIPP responsibility, should assess worksites for newly-created hazards. This should be done at the beginning of the shift and periodically as needed. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: Occupational injuries and fatalities are often the result of one or more contributing factors or key events in a larger sequence of events that ultimately result in an injury or fatality. The CA/FACE team identified the following contributing factors in this incident that ultimately led to the fatality: 1) Lack of established geothermal plant procedures for safely enclosing or covering 'can' openings created when pumps are removed. 2) The geothermal facility did not notify the employer that by removing the pump they had created a new hazard in the employer's jobsite. 3) The employer's foremen did not conduct inspections of their jobsite for newly-created hazards. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geothermal facility operators and onsite contractors should take the following steps to prevent similar incidents: a) Recommendation #1: Hazardous openings should be enclosed with guardrailing and affixed with a warning sign. Alternatively, the openings should be covered with a tool-secured cover strong enough to support foreseeable loads
  
  the cover should be affixed with an appropriate warning placard. b) Recommendation #2: Employers sharing a worksite should notify others of activities which may create new hazards. This is part of their IIPP responsibility on a multi-employer worksite. c) Recommendation #3: Supervisors and foremen, as part of their IIPP responsibility, should assess worksites for newly-created hazards. This should be done at the beginning of the shift and periodically as needed.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Accidents Confined Spaces Hazardous Substances Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Mortality Occupational Health Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Confined-spaces Environmental Control Equipment Falls Hazard Controls Hazard Labels High Pressure Industrial Hazards Industrial Safety Injuries Injury-prevention Methyl Compounds Mortality-data OSHA Region 9 Pentanes Recommendations Safety Equipment Suffocation Supervisory Personnel Traumatic-injuries Warning Signs Water Sprays Work-environment Work Operations

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Hispanic
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE16CA001
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20050025
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2017-102693
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 16CA001, 2016 Dec ; :1-7
• CAS Registry Number:
  Ethyl dimethyl methane (CAS RN 78-78-4)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• Performing Organization:
  California Department of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  81 - Other Services (except Public Administration) - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2005/07/01
• End Date:
  2026/06/30
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d073974b37325fcf20099188ecdd7c74e761c16c07cd1422ed7ef9b57671b3cf3f7d90027857874c06d046f95ac871a3f01c0a21a7f7ffbc71e633bbbf26b95e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/165003/cdc_165003_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 176.02 KB ]