OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14507347
IBM CORPORATION
BOULDER, CO—
Event description
ASPHYXIATED BY NITROGEN GAS
Investigation abstract
ON FEBRUARUY 5, 1985, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS ASSIGNED TO PERFORM AN OPERATION INVOLVING THE CAUSE OF DEATH TO BE ASPHYXIATION BY THE INHALATION OF NITROGEN GAS. THE QUI CK-CONNECT FITTINGS IN THE BLENDER ROOM WERE THE SAME SIZE AND TYPE FOR THE NITR OGEN GAS LINES AS THEY WERE FOR THE COMPRESSED AIR GAS LINES. IN ADDITION, THE N ITROGEN AND COMPRESSED AIR GAS LINES WERE OF THE SAME COLOR AND, EXCLUDING THE I DENTIFYING NAME, OF SIMILAR LABELING. REINTRODUCTION OF TONER IN A BLENDER ROOM OF THE TOWER MANUFACTURING DEPARTMENT . EMPLOYEE #1 WAS LAST SEEN ALIVE AT APPROXIMATELY 8:15 PM. AT APPROXIMATELY 8:3 5 PM, TWO OTHER EMPLOYEES ENTERED THE BLENDER ROOM AND FOUND EMPLOYEE #1 UNCONSC IOUS ON THE FLOOR. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS WEARING A YELLOW, FULL-BODY COVERALL WITH ATT ACHED HOOD AND FACESHIELD. THE COVERALL WAS MANUFACTURED BY DURAFAB, INC., STYLE 2130Z. IT WAS THE "BESTOSHIELD SUIT," DESCRIBED AS A RESPIRATOR HOODED COVERALL . AN AIR HOSE WAS TAPED INTO THE RESPIRATOR, AND THE OTHER END WAS CONNECTED TO A NITROGEN GAS LINE WITH A QUICK-CONNECT FITTING. THE COUNTY CORONER DETERMINED
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 34 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 31
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 7
- Hazardous substance
- 1900
- 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.