Mechanic dies from lack of oxygen in transport tank

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Oregon Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (Program) (OR-FACE) ; Oregon Health & Science University. Oregon Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology (CROET)
• Description:
  On February 4, 2004, a 23-year-old tank mechanic died when he entered a permit-required confined space. The mechanic was assigned to prepare a shipping container used to transport silicon tetrachloride for an inspection. The tank had been purged with an inert nitrogen atmosphere. While waiting for the inspector to arrive, the mechanic entered the tank for an unknown reason, apparently without first testing the atmosphere, and died of asphyxiation. When the victim was discovered about an hour later, a coworker jumped into the tank, again without testing the atmosphere first, and lifted the victim up to others standing on top of the tank. Testing by fire department responders showed the atmosphere at the bottom of the tank to be about 12% oxygen, below the minimum safe level of 19.5% oxygen. CAUSE OF DEATH: Asphyxiation. RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. Employers must evaluate confined spaces in the workplace. A permit-required confined space requires written entry procedures, including posted documentation of test results by an authorized person. 2. Never enter a confined space without first testing the atmosphere with an appropriate air-monitoring instrument. 3. Never enter a confined space without appropriate personal protective equipment for safe entry. 4. A trained attendant must monitor workers in a confined space and be prepared for an emergency response that does not involve direct entry of the space.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Atmosphere Confined Spaces Emergency Responders Environmental Monitoring Occupational Health Respiratory System Safety Safety Management Staff Development Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Air-quality-monitoring Atmosphere-analyzers Breathing-atmospheres Confined-spaces Emergency-responders Injuries Injury-prevention Mechanics OSHA Region 10 Respiration Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-practices Training Traumatic-injuries Work-environment Work-operations

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Confined Space
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE04OR002
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Oregon ; OSHA Region 10
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032576
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2007-114528
• 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 04OR002, 2007 May ; :1-6
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• Performing Organization:
  Oregon Department of Human Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  31-33 - Manufacturing - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2002/09/01
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2db92301a6db381cc1991c800c5202eb6208ef5b8e5b7eaec878773ed280a38a80bf89db9ad978295b190a5a496bc8c003bbaa1f0063494b31a2f1a9369e609c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/166251/cdc_166251_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 188.97 KB ]