NOTE: Please read my posts on Car Seal Programs, as this incident could have been prevented with a properly implemented program.
A production worker and USW member was found unresponsive by a co-worker shortly after beginning work in a powder coating spray booth. The co-worker called for first responders, who immediately removed the worker’s supplied-air respirator hood and began CPR, with assistance from outside emergency services. Unfortunately, those efforts were not successful, and the worker was asphyxiated by nitrogen gas.
Prior to the incident, a new ‘laser machine’ had been installed in the workplace. The laser’s installation included a three-way valve that was being serviced by a third-party contractor. Inadvertently during this work, the valve released a backflow of nitrogen into the compressed air system. The contractor was not aware at the time that nitrogen would then feed into the same compressed breathing air lines the worker was using at the powder coating spray booth.
Nitrogen is a colorless, tasteless, odorless gas and gives no warning. Nitrogen is sometimes called the ‘silent killer’ as humans in nitrogen-enriched atmospheres, and low in oxygen, lose consciousness before realizing they’re in danger.