OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14387161

KALMUS AND ASSOCIATES INC

BROADVIEW, IL— 1984-09-24T08:15:00

Event: CHLORINE, CHLORINE ROOM, ETCHING OPERATION, GAS LEAK, EVACUATION
NAICS: 000000
Inspection type: Accident-driven
Activity number: #1258102
Employer profile: KALMUS AND ASSOCIATES INC
Summary number: 14387161
Report ID: 524200

Event description

CHLORINE GAS LEAK

Investigation abstract

AT ABOUT 8:15 AM ON MONDAY, SEPT. 24, 1984, A CHLORINE GAS LEAK OCCURRED IN AN E D LEAVE SHOULD HAVE USED AN ALTERNATE EXIT. NCLOSED PIPING SYSTEM WHICH PROVIDES CHLORINE TO AN ETCHING OPERATION. THE CHLOR INE TANKS, EVAPORATOR AND REGULATORS ARE LOCATED IN A SEPARATE ROOM ATTACHED TO THE NORTH SIDE OF THE KALMUS BLDG. EMPLOYEE #8 WAS NOTIFIED BY THE CHLORINE LEAK DETECTOR ALARM THAT CHLORINE GAS WAS BEING VENTED TO THE OUTSIDE ATMOSPHERE THR OUGH A 'DUMP TUBE.' EMPLOYEE #8 (A GROUP LEADER IN THE ETCHING DEPT) PUT ON A SC BA & ENTERED THE CHLORINE ROOM TO SHUT OFF THE GAS. EMPLOYEES WERE EXPOSED TO CH LORINE WHEN THEY EVACULATED THE BUILDING AND WALKED PAST THE CHLORINE ROOM. NO F ORMAL ORDER TO EVACUATE THE BLDG WAS GIVEN BY MANAGEMENT. THOSE EMPLOYEES WHO DI

Victims (10)

#1 Hospitalized Age 25 F

Nature of injury
21

Part of body
28

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0640

Task assigned
2
#10 Hospitalized Age 68 F

Nature of injury
21

Part of body
28

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0640

Task assigned
2
#2 Hospitalized Age 39 F

Nature of injury
21

Part of body
28

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0640

Task assigned
2
#3 Hospitalized Age 54 F

Nature of injury
21

Part of body
28

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0640

Task assigned
2
#4 Hospitalized Age 26 M

Nature of injury
21

Part of body
28

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0640

Task assigned
1
#5 Hospitalized Age 64 F

Nature of injury
21

Part of body
28

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0640

Task assigned
2
#6 Hospitalized Age 19 M

Nature of injury
21

Part of body
28

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0640

Task assigned
2
#7 Hospitalized Age 29 F

Nature of injury
21

Part of body
28

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0640

Task assigned
2
#8 Hospitalized Age 25 M

Nature of injury
21

Part of body
28

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0640

Task assigned
1
#9 Hospitalized Age 65 F

Nature of injury
21

Part of body
28

Event type
8

Source
19

Occupation code
999

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
7

Hazardous substance
0640

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.