Initial findings in an employee’s death show breathing air was compromised while working in a paint booth after the breathing air system unintentionally allowed nitrogen to get into the system. The worker, 61, was found not breathing just after noon on Feb. 24 in a paint booth. This incident occurred in the same area where a December 2019 nitrogen gas-line explosion sent more than a dozen workers to the hospital.
He had been with the company for 27 years and was wearing a respirator/hood at the time of the incident. He was pronounced dead roughly 18 minutes after 911 was called.
The company’s initial findings indicate that oxygen readings in specific locations of the breathing air system were below acceptable levels at the time of the incident. The company’s internal investigation found the breathing air system unintentionally allowed nitrogen to get into the system, diluting the oxygen content to below-acceptable levels and making the air unsafe to breathe.
Source: https://www.kansas.com/news/local/article302782809.html
https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.violation_detail?id=1453214.015&citation_id=01001