Inspection Detail

Inspection: 101220259 - C. P. Construction, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Denver Area Office

Investigation Summary

On November 6, 1989, Employee #1, a mechanic, entered an asphalt tanker truck to repair a faulty valve. The tank (manufactured by Aeroil Products Co., Inc., 1650 gallon capacity, serial #280) was approximately 1/3 full of 180 degree F asphalt. The partially cooled asphalt (type III, roofing grade) did not support his weight, and his legs, from the knees down, became stuck in the asphalt. The Denver Fire Department made several attempts to pull him out through the 18 3/4 in. diameter top-mounted porthole, but with no success. Employee #1 had been in the tanker for approximately two hours when the fire department finally freed him by cutting an additional hole through the top of the metal tanker, and then pulling him out at a more perpendicular angle. Initially Employee #1 was still conscious and able to speak. By the time he was extracted, however, he was unconscious and in coronary arrest. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. The coroner's findings were death consistent with peripheral vascular collapse and shock due to heat hyperpyrexia. Employee #1 also sustained extensive 3rd-degree burns of the lower extremities, marked pulmonary edema and congestion, and multiple subendocardial hemorrhages within the heart.

Keywords: HEART, TANK TRUCK, SHOCK, CONFINED SPACE, STUCK, MECHANIC, CONSTRUCTION, VALVE, ASPHALT, HIGH TEMPERATURE