A Crew Leadman and a General Foreman Die from Burns Sustained in Fire at Sanitation Plant in California

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (CA/FACE) ; California. Department of Health Services
• Description:
  A 38-year-old white, non-Hispanic crew leadman (decedent #1) and a 33-year-old white, non-Hispanic general foreman (decedent #2) died from burns sustained while working in a hydraulic concrete channel ("mixed-liquors channel") at a county sanitation district plant. Both decedents were working for a subcontractor who had been hired by the sanitation district. They were installing a large butterfly valve (gate valve) in a hydraulic channel where oxygen was pumped into sludge. This channel is a confined space as defined in Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations (CCRs). The oxygen content of the air in the channel was elevated because of an operation which took place just prior to the incident. Decedent #1 was using a pneumatic hammer to chip away the sidewall of the channel. The pneumatic hammer struck something in the concrete causing a spark. The decedents' oxygen-enriched clothes caught fire and a second worker (decedent #2) jumped into the channel to help. Decedent #2's clothing also caught on fire and both workers were observed running through the channel on fire. A third co-worker leaned over to look in the channel at his co-workers and his shirt caught on fire. Co-workers at the scene stated that when they saw the victims on fire, they yelled at them to roll on the ground. The victims were transported by ambulance to a regional burn center where decedent #1 died two days after the incident, and decedent #2 died three days afterwards. The third victim who was initially hospitalized for his burns was released several days later. The CA/FACE investigator concluded that, in order to prevent similar future occurrences, host employers and employers should: 1. inform contractors of the existence of any confined spaces on the worksite and the hazards presented by the confined space and the host employer's experience with the confined space
  
  2. inform the contractor of precautions or procedures that the host employer has implemented for the protection of employees in or near permit spaces where contractor's employees will be working
  
  3. inform employees of the existence and location of confined space hazards by posting signs or by other means
  
  4. develop a comprehensive rescue plan to be used in the event of a confined space emergency
  
  and 5. provide specific fire safety training for employees so that in the event of a fire, employees know how to extinguish flames from their clothing.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Chemistry Confined Spaces Fires Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety Safety Management Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Chemical-properties Chemical-reactions Chemical-synthesis Confined-spaces Fire-hazards Fire-protection Fire-safety Injuries Injury-prevention Occupational-hazards OSHA Region 9 Protective-clothing Protective-measures Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

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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/NIOSHSFACE94CA002
• 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:
  12 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027017
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2007-114502
• 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 94CA002, 1994 Nov ; :1-12
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Performing Organization:
  California Department of Health Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:459e3add3dbcafddc5922eb23ea8184907257af7330c1161495e91c2fd09de826883f2a30e3cba58be3261fe8e9ff31264afe9f8ca4881c29d399ec478219676
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/169043/cdc_169043_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 62.20 KB ]