Fatal Accident Circumstances and Epidemiology (FACE) Report: Three ContractWorkers Die While Repairing a Sodium Hypochlorite Tank at a Wastewater Treatment Plant, Virginia, September 25, 1992

摘要

The case involved the death of three contract workers who were killed whilerepairing the interior rubber lining of an 18,000 gallon sodium-hypochlorite tank located at a municipal treatment facility for wastewater. The victims, a male foreman and two male laborers, were employed by a contractor that specialized in repairing and fabricating storage tanks. They were using toluene (108883), xylene (1330207), methanol (67561), isopropanol (67630), and methyl-ethyl-ketone (78933) in the tank with no protective masks, respiratory, ventilation system, standby person, or emergency procedures. The victims had contact on September 23 with a maintenance worker; 2 days later they were found dead at the bottom of the tank, near the ladder. The cause of death was toluene poisoning. It was recommended that a confined space entry program be developed, implemented and enforced, that a standby person be provided on the outside of all confined spaces, and that all contractors have a written safety program specific to the work to be performed.