Outdoor Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Attributed to Tractor Exhaust – Kentucky, 1997

Details

• Journal Article:
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Personal Author:
  Brandt, V. ; Leach, R. ; Scheerer, Amy ; Struttmann, Timothy W.
• Description:
  This report concerns the death of a 37 year old female farmer in Kentucky resulting from exposure to exhaust from a tractor in an open field. She was admitted to the hospital due to carbon- monoxide (630080) inhalation, dehydration, and heat exhaustion. At one o'clock in the afternoon she and two family members began planting tobacco in a 4.5 acre field. The temperature exceeded 90 degrees F and conditions were humid with minimal breeze. Two workers rode on a two seat tobacco setter, a device in which they ride side by side with their backs to the tractor and set tobacco plants into the ground as the tractor tows the setter at 2 to 3 miles per hour. The victim sat on the side nearest the exhaust pipe which was beneath the tractor and directed exhaust gases toward the setter riders. By 4 PM all three had headaches and the victim reported dizziness and fatigue. At 6:30 PM the victim collapsed on the setter. Examination of the tractor under stationary conditions with the engine running revealed carbon-monoxide levels of an average of 477 parts per million (ppm) during a 15 minute sampling period where someone working on the setter would sit. Tests of four other similar machines produced levels of 38, 364, 507, and 706ppm. Tests on a diesel powered tractor resulted in zero ppm carbon- monoxide. Sampling performed under similar planting conditions produced levels of 384ppm in 15 minutes. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Carbon Monoxide Farmers Hazardous Substances Hot Temperature Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Tobacco Products Vehicle Emissions

  More +
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Equipment-operators Exhaust-gases Heat-exposure NIOSH-Author Risk-analysis Risk-factors Tobacco-industry Toxic-gases
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Publisher:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (U.S.)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Kentucky ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  5 pdf pages
• Volume:
  46
• Issue:
  51
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00240362
• Citation:
  MMWR 1996 Dec; 46(51):1224-1227
• CAS Registry Number:
  Carbon monoxide (CAS RN 630-08-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1997
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:675ebaf276570bcbce4dc14d7165b52725e222f1849c51fa99eb3e990eb4d7c069e8b337d032912a229b5eb934af71bd2eec93ebc535af948a8d14fa435da873
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/183245/cdc_183245_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 143.09 KB ]