OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #570796
SUPER EXCAVATORS INC
MUSKEGO, WI—
Event description
ASPHYXIATED IN AN OXYGEN DEFICIENT ATMOSPHERE IN MANHOLE
Investigation abstract
AN EMPLOYEE ENTERED A 30 FOOT DEEP SEWER MANHOLE TO CHECK ON THE WATER LEVEL. AF TER FEELING FAINT, HE TRIED TO CLIMB OUT, BUT FELL UNCONSCIOUS INTO ABOUT FORTY INCHES OF WATER AT THE BOTTOM. A RESCUE ATTEMPT BY OTHER EMPLOYEES IN THE IMMEDI ATE AREA FAILED WHEN THE RESCUER WAS PULLED BY ROPE FROM THE MANHOLE AFTER FALLI NG UNCONSCIOUS ALSO. THE ATMOSPHERE IN THE MANHOLE WAS FOUND TO BE OXYGEN DEFICI ENT. THE SEWER LINE WAS NOT IN SERVICE AT THE TIME OF THE EVENT. GROUND WATER WA S LEAKING INTO THE SEWER LINE.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 23 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 19
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 9
- Hazardous substance
- 8880
- 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.