Accident Report Detail

Accident Summary Nr: 129775.015 - Employee suffers respiratory asphyxia from chlorine dioxide

Accident Summary Nr: 129775.015 -- Report ID: 0626700 -- Event Date: 09/17/2020
Inspection Nr	Date Opened	SIC	NAICS	Establishment Name
1494373.015	09/24/2020		561990	Evoqua Water Technologies Llc

Abstract: At 11:05 a.m. on September 17, 2020, an employee was working for a water treatment support services company. He began to take a bolt off the motor of a distribution pump on a chlorine dioxide generation system (Unit #2). A seal which connected to a shaft motor of the distribution pump failed. A seal on the 1.5-inch ball valve located between the batch tank and three distribution pumps also failed. These failures caused chlorine dioxide to flow back from the batch tank to distribution pumps and be released. The employee inhaled chlorine dioxide vapor and developed coughing and shortness of breath, requiring hospitalization.

Keywords: Asphyxiated, Bolt, Breathing, Chemical, Chemical Exposure, Chemical Vapor, Chlorine, Chlorine Dioxide, Corrosive, Cough, Defect, Defective, Defective Equipment, Equipment Failure, Gas, Inhalation, Leak, Lockout, Lockout/Tagout, Lung, Non-PEL Overexposure, Overexposure, PPE, PPE Hazard Assessment, Pump, Respirator, Respiratory, Respiratory Tract, Seal, Shortness of breath, Tank, Valve, Water Treatment

Employee Details
Employee #	Inspection Nr	Age	Sex	Degree of Injury	Nature of Injury
1	1494373.015	34	M	Hospitalized injury

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