A 26 year old truck driver died while attempting to clean out a 6500 gallon cargo tank mounted on a tractor/trailer. He worked for a liquid chemical transport company which had a written safety program and full time safety professionals on staff. The driver had delivered about 4,000 gallons of sodium-hydrosulfite covered with a nitrogen (7727379) blanket in the tank. After off loading, the tank was completely filled with nitrogen gas, anticipating another load of sodium-hydrosulfite. The driver was instructed to pick up a load of clay slurry on the way back. The driver stopped at a truck wash facility to rinse out the inside of the tank; the usual truck wash worker was not present. The driver opened a 4 inch drain valve on the back of the tank, climbed on top of the tank, opened the 20 inch diameter hatch, inserted a wooden ladder, and climbed down inside the tank carrying a hand spray gun. Within a minute after entering the tank, the driver was observed lying unconscious; approximately 20 minutes later the author was removed from the tank. The autopsy report listed anoxia due to containment in a nitrogen rich atmosphere as the cause of death.
Fatal Accident Circumstances and Epidemiology (FACE) Report: Truck Driver Dies While Cleaning Out Inside of Tanker in South Carolina, August 20, 1986
1987
7 pages
Report
No indication
English
Public Health & Industrial Medicine , Environmental & Occupational Factors , Industrial Safety Engineering , Environmental Health & Safety , Accident investigations , Safety engineering , Nitrogen , Truck drivers , Gases , Occupational safety and health , CAS 7727-37-9 , FACE 87-27 , Confined spaces , Accident analysis