Abstract: The employee, an electrician, was removing unused and deenergized light fixtures, wiring, and piping, from a ceiling directly above open, solution-filled tanks of an automatic plating line. He was standing on the open structural steel support frame for the automatic overhead crane tracks. The employee apparently lost his balance, falling approximately 9 ft, striking his head and falling into the rinse tank containing ammonium chloride and zinc chloride. He was removed from the tank by fellow employees and taken to the hospital where he died approximately two hours later. The cause of death was listed as severe adult respiratory distress syndrome, caused by chemical burns to the lungs. At the time of the accident, the deceased was not tied off, nor was the structural steel provided with guardrails.