A contractor crew was assigned to abrasively blast inside a reactor vessel at a petrochemical refinery.Although verbal company policy called for contractors to supply all breathing air, this crew,with supervisor’s knowledge, had on several occasions used plant air to supply breathing air. A crew member mistakenly hooked up his air-line respirator to an unlabeled nitrogen line (only the shut-off valve was labeled) used by the refinery for purging confined spaces. Plant nitrogen and airlines were identical, and both had couplings compatible with the coupler on the respirator. The crew member was killed.
Source: osha.gov
No comments:
Post a Comment