OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14259154
MARTIN MARIETTA AEROSPACE CORP MICHOUD DIV
NEW ORLEANS, LA—
Event description
ASPHYXIATED IN A CONFINED SPACE
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 DROPPED AN ARTICLE THRU THE GRATING OF A COVERED PIT BELOW HIS WORK INITIVE RESULTS. AREA. HE REMOVED THE PIT COVER AND DESCENDED THE LADDER TO THE PIT FLOOR TO RETR IEVE THE ARTICLE. HE DID NOT RETURN. THE PIT SURROUNDS THREE EMPTY CHEMICAL TANK S. THE TANKS HAD BEEN UNUSED AND TAGGED OUT FOR FIVE YEARS. THE CORONER'S DIAGNO SIS (THROUGH AN AUTOPSY) WAS "COMPRESSIVE ASPHYXIA". THIS INDICATES THAT THE EMP LOYEE WAS CAUGHT BETWEEN THE PIPES AND POSSIBLY OTHER STRUCTURES AND WAS UNABLE TO BREATHE. IT IS SUSPECTED THAT AN OXYGEN DEFICIENCY AND/OR CHLORINATED HYDROCA RBON VAPORS WERE AT LEAST PARTIALLY RESPONSIBLE, BUT THIS COULD NOT BE SUBSTANTI ATED. A SIMULATION OF THE WORK ENVIRONMENT PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT PRODUCED NO DEF
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 36 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 12
- Source
- 43
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Task assigned
- 2
Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.