At 7:00 a.m. on October 31, 2022, an employee, 36, was brazing a copper line in an electrical equipment room that was equipped with a carbon dioxide fire extinguishing system. The fire extinguishing system activated, discharging and flooding the room with carbon dioxide. The employee was unable to escape the room and was overcome and asphyxiated by the carbon dioxide. The employee was transported to the hospital, where he died.
I was hoping the OSHA investigation would have attempted to determine if the worker’s job set off the CO2 system. Was he brazing next to a “head” and activated the system? Was there a “fire eye” in the room that activated the system? The result was the system did NOT have a pre-discharge alarm, which OSHA took exception to.