Confined Space Entry Accidents page 5

CONFINED SPACE FATALITY – ENGULFMENT!!! (rescue workers recovered the body of a man, 66, from a bin of soybeans – he had been unloading beans from the bin and found that a crust had formed at the top of the bin – he climbed in to break the crust and fell into the bin – a neighbor tried to help him out of the bin but was not able to get him free – rescue workers were not able to free him before he died)

CONFINED SPACE DOUBLE FATALITY!!! Turkiye Petrol says two workers killed in Izmit refinery explosion (an explosion which occurred during the cleaning of a tetraethyl lead tank killed two contractors – two other injured workers were treated and five personnel from the security and fire-fighting team were checked in hospital)

CONFINED SPACE ENGULFMENT FATALITY!!! UPDATE Weyerhaeuser Hit with Largest Safety Fine in BC (WorkSafeBC announces penalty as a result of a New Westminster sawmill death (WorkSafeBC has proposed a penalty of just over $297,000 against gthe mill – this amount includes a $250,000 penalty and a claim cost levy of $47,120.80 – the incident occurred on November 17, 2004 – the worker was killed when he was engulfed by wood waste material while cleaning out a “hog” machine at the sawmill – tThis machine pulverizes waste-wood products and workers had to climb inside to manually remove waste-wood products and clear out any plugs – investigation concluded that the mill was made aware of safety hazards associated with the hog machine and workers were exposed to the hazard for several years – in fact, twelve individuals in management or supervisory roles were aware that the existing process for clearing the hog posed a significant risk to workers, but the employer made no significant changes to address the hazard until after the fatality – a copy of the investigation, which has been severed as per Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy legislation, is available at www.worksafebc.com)

CONFINED SPACE ENGULFMENT FATALITY!!! Lowell man killed in farm accident (a 65-year-old farm worker has been killed after becoming trapped in a grain bin filled with corn – he was using an auger to load shelled corn from the bin into a tractor-trailer – he apparently climbed to the top of the bin and either fell inside or entered it while trying to remove some ice that had formed at the top – the action of the corn being removed from the bin by the auger pulled him to the bottom – emergency personnel pulled his body from the bin about three hours later)

CONFINED SPACE DOUBLE FATALITY ACCIDENT Two workers dead in Stickney (two construction workers died after they were pulled from an underground area at a water treatment plant where they may have been overcome by fumes – the two victims, ages 45 and 47, were pulled from a hole – they later were pronounced dead at a Hospital – no more details)

UPDATE Air tanks, masks, found few feet away from 2 of plant fire victims (lifesaving air tanks and oxygen masks that were lowered to five workers trapped in a water tunnel were found just 18 feet away from 2 of the men – the equipment was lowered as the men, who escaped unharmed from a fire on equipment they were using, were struggling to survive in a tunnel that was filling with smoke and fumes – rescuers used a rope to lower five air masks, a flashlight and a two-way radio 1,100 feet down the penstock that channels water through a hydroelectric plant – it appears the equipment was unreachable – the bodies of the five men were found along a 200 feet section of the 4,000 foot long tunnel – details emerged as federal agencies investigating the tragedy say they’ll look into complaints that the workers feared for their safety in the days before the fire)

CONFINED SPACE FATALITY – ENGULFMENT!!! This is a PERFECT example how one can die from engulfment; getting buried up to your chest and the weight of the material acting like a python on your chest Worker dies at Fayetteville concrete plant (buried up to his neck, a worker may have lived as long as an hour after tons of sand fell on him in an industrial hopper – firefighters gave the worker oxygen and tried to dig him out, but the mix of sand and rock in the hopper was too much and he died – worker didn’t have enough strength to expand his chest against the weight of the material crushing his body – it is unclear what time he died; estimated it was less than an hour after the accident – he had worked for at the plant for 15 years – he was running an automated process to prepare a batch of concrete when a large rock jammed the equipment – when he climbed into the equipment to remove the rock, the machine dumped more sand from an upper hopper to a lower hopper – it buried him in the lower hopper – Only the deceased worker and the plant manager are allowed to extract rocks jammed in the hopper gates – “We have a safety procedure to follow” and he followed it, Lindsey said. “It’s just one of those freak accidents.” Lindsey said he was a good worker, excellent at his job as a batch man. A batch man is in charge of getting cement truck drivers in and the cement orders out to the customers, he said)

Worker At Taylors Plant Found Dead In Tank (a worker at a plant was found dead in a tanker he had been hired to clean – investigators said that about noon, the body was found at the plant – the company had hired the worker to clean the tanker – investigators have not yet said what was in the tanker or given a cause for his death)

FIVE DIE IN FARM CONFINED SPACE ACCIDENT Five killed in Rockingham farming accident (a farm accident killed four members of a family and a hired hand at a dairy farm – a couple and their two young daughters and a farm worker died from methane gas emanating from a manure pit at their farm – the victims, 33; his wife, 34; a duagher, 11; another daughter, 9; and hired hand, 24, who worked at the dairy farm – following the end of the days work the owner apparently was transferring manure from one small pit to a larger one measuring 20 feet by 20 feet and 8 feet deep – at some point, the pipe that was transferring the manure from the smaller pit to the larger became clogged, and he climbed inside to fix the blockage – when he went into the pit to clear the obstruction, he apparently was overcome by methane gas, which is one byproduct of the liquefied manure – emergency workers speculate that the hired hand climbed into the pit in an attempt to rescue the owner – when the two men didnt come out, the wife and then the couples two daughters apparently made their way in, all succumbing to the deadly gas)

CONFINED SPACE ACCIDENT 3 dead, 8 injured in well collapse in S China province (three people have been confirmed dead and eight others injured after a well collapsed – the accident occurred at 2:00 p.m. when the people, all employees of a farm were removing garbage from the bottom of the well – the well caved in and buried three of the workers – disaster-relief officials rushed to the site, but heavy rain hindered rescue efforts – the body of one worker was retrieved at 6:20 p.m. and bodies of the other two were also found and will be removed from the well – the well is three meters in diameter and ten meters deep and has been in use for 30 years)

DOUBLE FATALITY CONFINED SPACE ACCIDENT Toxic gases kill two in pickled bamboo shoot factory (a second worker from a pickled bamboo shoot factory died in a hospital following the death of another worker – nine workers lost consciousness in a pit containing pickled bamboo shoots and were sent to hospital – a son of the factory’s owner, succumbed at hospital, following severe damage to his brain tissue – another worker died in hospital – medical authorities will perform autopsies to determine what caused the deaths of the two workers – the toxic gases found in pickled vegetable pits are hydrogen sulfide and sulphur dioxide – according to the Bureau of Epidemiology, Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla said from 2003 to 2006, toxic gases in factory workplaces killed 24 workers and injured 30 others in eight incidents)

DOUBLE CONFINED SPACE FATALITY!!! Binbrook man, co-worker die in mysterious sewer accident (two telecommunications workers are dead after a freak underground accident that has left investigators baffled – the men were working in a sewer at around 10:30 when a co-worker came upon the scene and realized the men were in trouble – the man called police – Fire Department’s rope rescue unit pulled the men out of the sewer – emergency crews tried vainly to revive the pair at the scene – the victims were taken by ambulance to Memorial Hospital where they were pronounced dead – investigators have not determined a cause of death for the men – some reports suggest the men were overcome by gas – firefighters and officials were testing the air in the sewer in a bid to find the cause – police have not released the name of the victims, identified only as a 33-year-old man and a 52-year-old man)

DOUBLE CONFINED SPACE FATALITY Missing sewer workers believed dead (two missing sewer workers swept away by an underground flash flood are almost certainly dead – one body was found in the Mississippi River later that night – police had not confirmed that it was one of the two missing men – earlier in the day, after a third fruitless search of sewage tunnels the hope is now to recover the men’s bodies – the missing men were part of a contractor crew working on the sewage tunnels – four workers were about 100 feet underground when a thunderstorm dumped heavy rain flooding the tunnels and sweeping the men away)

SIX WOULD-BE RESCUERS DIES in Rescue Attempts 7 dead after falling into paper pulp pool in N.China (seven workers died and one was hospitalized after they fell into a paper pulp pool – the accident occurred around 11:00 am – one worker fell into the pool and seven others also fell in one after another in rescue attempts – seven workers were poisoned by the chemicals in the pool and the surviving rescuer was still being treated in hospital – authorities are investigating the cause of the accident)

CONFINED SPACE FATALITY Autopsy reports confirm cause of worker’s death (preliminary autopsy findings have confirmed that a man, 53, died of lack of oxygen inside a manhole at a construction site – another man, 38, is still listed in critical condition at the Medical Center – The sheriff’s Office received a 911 call about 11:07 a.m. Thursday that the two men were trapped in a hole at the site – upon arrival, deputies learned that the deceased worker had gone first into the hole, about eight feet below ground – the would be rescuer went into the hole after seeing his co-worker pass out – the two men were extricated by Acadian Ambulance and the Fire Department – the construction site was for the purpose of extending sewer lines to a new annexation into the city limits)

CONFINED SPACE DOUBLE FATALITY * Two killed in a well in Sri Lanka (two persons died in a covered well – police suspects a poisonous gas caused the deaths – a worker who climbed down a well inside a shop to clean it was suffocated and a second person who tried to save his life was also choked in the well – the rescue operations were difficult due to poisonous air in the well)

CONFINED SPACE ACCIDENT Flash fire leaves two with severe burns (a flash fire severely burned two men from inside a parked railroad car used to transport hydrochloric acid – the fire erupted at about 5:30 p.m. – first responders rushed one worker, 27, to an emergency room by ambulance – another worker, also in his late twenties, was rushed by helicopter to San Antonio’s Brooke Army Medical Center, a burn unit – he suffered second- and third-degree burns to 95 percent of his body – he was very, very critical – one worker, still on fire, climbed halfway outside the car, and another worker pulled him to safety – in the process, the injured worker kicked the ladder free of the opening – the other worker, also still on fire, grabbed the heavy, steel ladder from the railcar floor, lifted it above him and to rescuer on top of the car – he climbed high enough for his coworker to help him out – the men spread adhesive inside the tank to form a protective barrier against the hydrochloric acid it would soon carry – he remembers the sound of the flash fire’s boom, the feel of the heat and the sight of the men’s burned clothing – the fire marshal, thinks a droplight – like those mechanics hang from car hoods – ignited the flash fire)

CONFINED SPACE TRIPLE FATALITY / 2 Entrants and 1 Would-Be-Rescuer Three die in North Sea accident ( the link does not provide detail, however I have been sent preliminary information that indicates:  Two men were tasked to paint inside an enclosed space. A third man was positioned outside the space with BA equipment.  The two men inside the space were seen to collapse and the third man on the outside of the space tried to make entry but his BA equipment was fouled against the space opening. As a result he removed his equipment, made entry and also collapsed. He was eventually found with his colleagues in the space. All three affected crew members were removed from the space, resuscitation commenced and transferred to the nearest hospital by Coast Guard helicopter. All three were pronounced DOA at the hospital or not long thereafter)

Rescuers Free Construction Worker Trapped In Manhole (a man was trapped 25 feet down the manhole – the man, who “has a major injury to one of his legs,” was apparently working for a private contractor on a water or sewer line excavation – no other details)

Paper company fined over accident (mill has been fined $19,000 and ordered to correct procedures that led to the death of one employee and injured another at the company’s paper mill – the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry’s investigation revealed as well that the same conditions that caused the recent accident also caused accidents that injured employees in 1993 and 1989 – violations included not providing employees with the proper protective gear, not providing the proper training for such gear, and not adequately assessing the hazards involved that led to the fatal accident – investigation that occurred the day after the accident concluded that employees should have been issued protective equipment for their eyes, faces, heads and extremities, as well as protective clothing, before entering an ash hopper to remove burnt fuel materials stuck to the walls of the hopper – three boiler maintenance employees were cleaning the hopper in the No. 9 boiler when a large amount of material apparently fell to the bottom of the hopper and somehow ignited, causing an explosion through the hatch door)

Andersons employee killed in silo accident, A man, 38, employed at the grain storage complex died in an accident outside one of the storage tanks, was one of four employees working to remove wheat grain from a tank when he suddenly became buried shortly before 1 p.m., details of the accident w October 7, 2007 ble to escape unharmed and called for help, he was a 19-year employee of the business and had served as the inventory handling and safety manager since 2001, he is survived by his wife, Jamie, and three children.

Sunnyvale Treatment Plant Back On Line Following Fire (it was a cutting torch that ignited a sulfur deposit inside a digestion tank that caused the shutdown of the plant and the evacuation of a nearby park and recycling facility – after the fire started, maintenance crews used water to try and put it out, causing the noxious cloud to form and sending one man to a nearby hospital for treatment of respiratory distress – “The crew working on the tank had a good safety record; it’s just one of those things,”)

Investigator weighs in on 3V death (four day October 7, 2007 a federal investigator says he knows what went wrong – Randy McClure, an investigator with the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said Wednesday that it was exposure to an oxygen-deficient environment that killed a worker – the worker, 27, died and two other workers were injured in the incident, which occurred while a chemical dryer inside the plant was being pressure-washed – McClure, who began his investigation Sunday, shared some of his preliminary findings – personnel said that the men had made a confined-space entry and that he most likely died of oxygen deprivation – McClure said, although final findings have not been made, investigators do believe that nitrogen also was involved – in its statement, the company said it agreed with McClure’s assessment – it indicated the lack of oxygen inside the dryer was likely due to “an excessive presence of nitrogen” – McClure said CSB is particularly interested in the 3V incident because of its similarity to an accident at a Delaware refinery in November 2005 in which two workers died as a result of nitrogen asphyxiation/oxygen deficiency – CLICK HERE to see CSB’s OUTSTANDING video on the DE faility last year!!!)  MORE DETAILS in this article

Welder dies in shipyard blast (a welder was killed in an explosion at a shipyard – the man was preparing to enter a section of the hull of the boat which was drydocked – the explosion, which happened shortly after 7 p.m., threw him from the boat – he was the only person injured in the explosion – the man was a welder for the subcontractor and had been working for the company for eight to 10 months – it was unknown if he was using his welding equipment at the time of the explosion or what might have sparked the blast)

Worker trapped in cement truck (a worker ended up trapped in the back of a cement truck in the truck’s payload – street was shut down while the worker was removed and while the accident was under investigation)

Man died in saving co-worker (two workers had spent part of the day working on a dryer inside the plant – the dryer is a 30-foot long cylinder that is on its side with an agitator in the center – it is used to dry acetone, a flammable chemical – because it is a dangerous material, the dryer has to be cleaned periodically – the first step of the cleaning process is to fill the dryer with nitrogen to displace any oxygen to keep the dryer from catching on fire – one of the next steps is to aerate the dryer to make sure there is no nitrogen before stepping in to begin the cleaning process – On Saturday, a worker and his co-worker aerated the dryer and tested it to make sure there was no nitrogen – they were about to walk inside of it when they realized they needed another piece of equipment so one worker stayed by the dryer while the co-worker went to get the tool – when the co-worker returned, the other worker was unconscious inside the dryer – we don’t know how he got in the dryer – he may have walked in or he may have fallen in – he does not remember what happened – when the co-worker returned and saw the condition of his co-worker, he ran to get help – that’s when another worker (the would-be rescuer) and other workers rushed to the dryer – the would-be rescuer – without the proper equipment – jumped in the dryer and pushed the other worker to safety – the other employees frantically tried to save the unconscious worker’s life by performing CPR and calling 911 to have an ambulance respond to the scene – about 25 minutes later they realized they did not see the “would-be rescuer” worker – they went back to the dryer and found him passed out inside – they pulled his lifeless body out and he was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead)

Trapped gas kills three sewer workers (trapped methane gas killed three construction workers as they cleaned a sewage pipe – according to witnesses, none of the workers wore a gas mask – “The first worker went down but did not come out after a long time, so the second one followed in,” said a street cleaner, who saw the incident. “Then the third one went in.” When the three did not reappear, police were called)

Injured workers out of hospital (two men who were seriously injured in an industrial accident at 3V last week have been released from the hospital but are still recovering from the incident that killed one of their co-workers.

Welder killed in tanker blast (a 27-year-old welder was killed in an explosion while working inside a gasoline tanker – the explosion put a hole through the roof of a trailer repair company and rocked another nearby business – he was inside a 13,000-gallon gasoline tanker fixing a leak in one of the rig’s four compartments when a blast erupted – investigators were unsure what caused the explosion and planned to continue checking – the tank was emptied and steam-cleaned before he started welding – he was welding long enough to use up one tank and change it for another – the detonation bowed the roof of the large sheet-metal garage and apparently sent one of three round covers on top of the tanker flying through the ceiling)

Quarry worker seriously injured (a quarry worker was seriously injured after he was buried by sand that was being loaded onto a truck – the 48-year-old was loading the vehicle in a quarry when, for some reason, sand fell out of the vehicle and partially buried him)

EHS Professional DIES setting up a Confined Space Training Course Nitrogen ruled cause of death in employee fatality (details surrounding the death of an Environmental Health and Safety Engineer have surfaced – the medical examiner determined the cause of death to be asphyxia due to acute nitrogen inhalation – he was working on a training program the night of his death – he created training programs for any part of the staff that had to handle hazardous materials or who had to deal with hazardous conditions – the cause of death was an accidental exposure to nitrogen – According to the police report, a police officer responded to a call from his wife, after 10 p.m. – she reported that her husband had not returned home from work that evening – a security guard entered Science Center storage room L59 where he discovered him “lying face down on the floor halfway inside a cardboard box,” – the guard noted tubes leading into the box, one of which was actively emitting nitrogen gas and another that was attached to an air quality control meter – according to the report, after unsuccessfully attempting to wake the EHS engineer, the guard “cut the top of the box away and checked for a pulse with negative results” – fire Company personnel were summoned to the scene, where they placed a meter in L59 “to determine nitrogen levels and cleared it as safe for further processing,” – medics pronounced him dead at the scene, estimating his time of death as approximately eight hours earlier that day – according to the police report, an examination of the room itself yielded a “confined space mockup,” a sketch that corresponded to the cardboard box in which Rodgers’ body was found – public safety later reported that similar sketches depicting the design were found in his office)