Inhalation of harmful substance-single episode · Poisoning, toxic, noxious, or allergenic effect, unspecified
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at LOUISIANA PIGMENT, 3300 BAYOU DINDE ROAD, WESTLAKE, LOUISIANA 70669
on — Poisoning, toxic, noxious, or allergenic effect, unspecified, affecting the bODY SYSTEMS.
Final narrative
Six employees were removing a 4-inch butterfly valve at a desulfurization unit using an impact wrench. The employees inhaled carbon dioxide vapors. Two of the employees were hospitalized.
An employee was passing through a building when she suffered an allergic reaction to a cinnamon air freshener. The employee began to feel dizzy and ill, ultimately becoming unresponsive. The employee was hospitalized.
An employee wearing a blasting hood was preparing to blast inside a tank. The line that supplies the hood with breathing air was plugged into an argon line. The employee breathed the argon gas and fell. The employee was hospitalized for argon poisoning.
An employee was preparing a pump for maintenance. When the employee removed a cover, chemicals were released into the air. The employee was exposed to hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan and was hospitalized.
Employees were investigating the vapor conditions at the purification vent scrubber after a restart. Employees were looking through the sight glass, when the glass ruptured, releasing chemical vapors. Two employees sustained chemical burns to their upper body.
On September 24, 2021, an employee was trying to unjam a machine. His left hand was caught in a rotary airlock valve (accessed through an inspection port), which pinched his middle finger. The finger was amputated up to the first knuckle. The machine was running at the time.
An employee was operating the floor scrubber and pinched his right index finger between the steering wheel on the floor scrubber and a crossbeam by the storage racks resulting in a partial fingertip amputation.
On August 26, 2020, an employee was cleaning an industrial mixer when a flash fire erupted within the mixer and burned the employee's face, neck, and hands. The cleaning process involves manually scraping a mixture of aluminum paste with petroleum distillate carrier. Isopropyl alcohol is then used to wash the mixer.
On May 14, 2020, at approximately 1:00 p.m., an employee was operating a dispensing machine fed by a moving conveyor belt. As the employee attempted to retrieve material from the conveyor, the employee's right pinky fingertip was amputated by the moving belt and pulley.
A driver was exiting his vehicle outside the plant gate when his foot slipped on the top step of the truck. He fell to the ground, landed on his left hip and elbow. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured hip/femur.
A security employee was responding to an urgent call from staff regarding a violent patient. The employee tripped and fell on the floor outside of the stairwell. The employee sustained a closed head injury, contusion of the cerebrum without loss of consciousness, and a closed fracture of the distal end of the right radius.
A temporary employee was testing an electrical starter motor. He was placing tape on the starter while the breaker was not engaged, but the starter sent an arc flash that burned his hands and stomach.
An employee was walking on a sidewalk and stubbed his toe on an elevated portion of concrete, causing him to trip and fall. The employee's right knee was dislocated.