Accident Report Detail

Accident Summary Nr: 163060.015 - Employee loses consciousness due to H2S exposure, later dies

Accident Summary Nr: 163060.015 -- Report ID: 0653510 -- Event Date: 12/30/2023
Inspection Nr	Date Opened	SIC	NAICS	Establishment Name
1720355.015	01/09/2024		424720	Bell Gas, Inc.

Abstract: At 11:00 a.m. on December 19, 2023, an employee who performed maintenance work for petroleum products wholesaler was called to check on a plumbing issue at a gas station. The employee left the site and returned at 3:30 p.m. to complete the job. The employee went into the bathroom to continue working on the plumbing issue. He removed the toilet and poured muriatic acid into the drains. The employee was found unconscious at 4:30 p.m. When emergency responders arrived on site, their personal hydrogen sulfide (H2S) monitors began to alarm even prior to entry into the bathroom where the employee was located. The employee was transported to a medical center and then transferred to another medical center. On December 30, 2023, the employee was taken off of life support and died. The cause of death was determined to be H2S and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.

Keywords: Air Monitoring, Alarm, Asphyxiated, Carbon Monoxide, Carboxyhemoglobin, Chemical, Chemical Exposure, Chemical Reaction, Chemical Vapor, Clogged, Emergency Response, Gas, Hydrochloric Acid, Hydrogen Sulfide, Insufficient Supervision, Lack of Engineering Controls, Lack of Work Procedures, Loss of consciousness, Lung, Maintenance, Misjudgment, Misjudgment of Hazardous Situation, Non-PEL Overexposure, Overcome by vapors, Overexposure, Painter, Petroleum, Plumbing, Repair, Respirator, Respiratory Tract, Unconsciousness, Vapor, Ventilation

Employee Details
Employee #	Inspection Nr	Age	Sex	Degree of Injury	Nature of Injury	Occupation
1	1720355.015	56	M	Fatality		Painters, construction and maintenance

Thank You for Visiting Our Website

You are exiting the Department of Labor's Web server.

The Department of Labor does not endorse, takes no responsibility for, and exercises no control over the linked organization or its views, or contents, nor does it vouch for the accuracy or accessibility of the information contained on the destination server. The Department of Labor also cannot authorize the use of copyrighted materials contained in linked Web sites. Users must request such authorization from the sponsor of the linked Web site. Thank you for visiting our site. Please click the button below to continue.