Inspection Detail

Inspection: 123650590 - Huntsman Corp-Oxides & Olefins Facility

Inspection Information - Office: Houston South Area Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 1:30 a.m. on October 8, 1994, Employee #1 was found dead of a heart attack in the G-5 unit's office/locker room.The time of death was not exactly known, but he was eating lunch and it appears that he died about 1 to 1 1/2 hours before being found. He was found sitting at a desk and leaning back with a telephone, his lunch, and a bottle of Gaviscon (heartburn medication) on the desk. He also had a radio with an emergency button on top. It appears that Employee #1 may have started to prepare for pumping, but nothing was recorded in the pumping log. The logs indicated that Employee #1 had not done any gauging or taking of rundown samples.The schedule indicates he would have taken a sample of ethylene gycol and water at 8:00 p.m. at the splitter overhead, an open area with no walls and about a 15 foot high ceiling. Employee #1 did not appear to have a significant exposure to a chemical which would cause the condition described by the Jefferson County Morgue's preliminary report as "subendocardial acute myocardial infarction, due to hypertensive cardiovascular disease."

Keywords: HEART ATTACK, CARDIOVASC DISEASE