OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14311948

BECHTEL POWER CORPORATION

HANCOCKS BRIDGE, NJ— 1985-09-04T00:00:00

Event: FIRE EXT SYSTEM, STORAGE ROOM, CARBON DIOXIDE, ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE
NAICS: 000000
Inspection type: Accident-driven
Activity number: #100166610
Employer profile: BECHTEL POWER CORPORATION
Summary number: 14311948
Report ID: 213900

Event description

WORKERS OVERCOME BY CO2

Investigation abstract

AN ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE OF 5 TIMES THE INTENDED DESIGNED LOAD OF CARBON DIOXIDE TOOK PLACE IN A FUEL STORAGE ROOM PROTECTED BY AN AUTOMATIC CARBON DIOXIDE FIRE EXTINGUISHING SYSTEM. WATER ACCIDENTLY ENTERED THE CONTROL PANEL AND CAUSED THE SYSTEM TO TRIP. THE ENTIRE CONTENTS OF THE CARBON DIOXIDE TANK WAS DISCHARGED. T HE GAS THEN SEEPED OUT OF THE ROOM, EXPOSING DOZENS OF WORKERS TO DANGEROUS LEVE LS OF CARBON DIOXIDE.

Victims (22)

#1 Non-hospitalized injury Age 28 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#10 Non-hospitalized injury Age 31 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#11 Non-hospitalized injury Age 28 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#12 Non-hospitalized injury Age 31 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#13 Non-hospitalized injury Age 35 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#14 Non-hospitalized injury Age 39 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#15 Non-hospitalized injury Age 46 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#16 Non-hospitalized injury Age 28 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#17 Non-hospitalized injury Age 61 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#18 Non-hospitalized injury Age 51 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#19 Non-hospitalized injury Age 29 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 31 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#20 Non-hospitalized injury Age 31 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#21 Hospitalized Age 61 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#22 Non-hospitalized injury Age 51 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#3 Non-hospitalized injury Age 35 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#4 Non-hospitalized injury Age 39 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#5 Non-hospitalized injury Age 46 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#6 Non-hospitalized injury Age 28 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#7 Non-hospitalized injury Age 61 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#8 Non-hospitalized injury Age 51 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1
#9 Non-hospitalized injury Age 29 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
5

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
9

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0530

Task assigned
1

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.