2010 Confined Space Accidents
thru 1/31/10
CONFINED SPACE FATALITIES – NITROGEN in a boiler Four workers killed at steel plant (four workers have lost their lives and another is in a critical condition following an accident at a plant – it’s unclear what exactly happened at the steel manufacturer’s plant but it’s believed that the men were carrying out maintenance work when they inhaled a gas – believed to be nitrogen – three of the employees died at the plant, another man fell to his death after apparently becoming dizzy while working on scaffolding – a fifth man’s been hospitalized – accident occurred in the Bof oven number 3 – the oven has been standing idle for a week and the workers were doing maintenance work)
CONFINED SPACE FATALITY Four workers died while cleaning sewer, employer negligence suspected (worker died with three of his friends, all in their twenties, reportedly from asphyxiation while removing garbage from the tunnel, after being pushed by a strong current and running out of oxygen – the workers had been hired by the Public Works Agency – one had worked for the Public Works Agency as a daily worker for around one year – police suspected the deaths of the four men was a result of negligence – detectives found that none of the workers had been given safety clothing or equipment before entering the sewers – they only had a flashlight, and on the day of their deaths it had been raining, causing the water levels to rise up to their waists – incident occurred because of a sudden increase in water levels)
CONFINED SPACE FATALITIES – CARBON MONOXIDE Six killed in gas poisoning accident in northern China (the accident occurred when workers began work without checking whether the inside of the furnace was free of carbon monoxide)
FALL from LADDER inside CONFINED SPACE Paisley hospital worker plunges into empty water tank (worker, 52, had to be rescued by firefighters after plunging to the bottom of a 30ft deep water tank and suffering head injuries – he was standing on ladders as he painted the inside of the disused steel tank in a boilerhouse within the grounds of the Hospital when he lost his balance and fell head first – he hit his head on a metal pipe as he plunged downwards, leaving blood pouring from a deep wound – a colleague who was working alongside him in the water tank tried desperately to stop the bleeding before raising the alarm – when firefighters arrived at the scene, they put a special harness on the dazed and shocked man so they could haul him out of the tank)
CONFINED SPACE EXPLOSION Three Burned Thursday In Explosion At Texas Plant and Officials probe cause of flash fire in tank (investigators tried to piece together what happened after two workers were burned by fumes that ignited inside a tank they were painting – three workers were hospitalized with burns after an explosion at the plant where they worked – the explosion happened about 4 p.m. – two workers were airlifted to a hospital, while a third was taken by ambulance – information wasn’t immediately available about the condition of the injured workers or about the cause of the flash blas – they were applying a primer to a tank when the fire broke out)
CONFINED SPACE FATALITY – ENGULFMENT One person dies in grain bin incident 1 mile north of Sigel (one person died after being trapped in a grain bin – confirmed at the scene that one person had become trapped in the bin full of corn and died as a result – emergency personnel were dispatched after 3:15 p.m. to the farm – steady stream of fire and rescue trucks, ambulances, and earth-moving vehicles from neighboring farms rushed down the country road)