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A fatal fire accident that occurred during ship repair work was examined. Two workers were in a compartment below the main deck of a ship in a shipyard preparing to paint. One of the workers (the victim) was smoking. Upon being admonished by his coworker not to smoke, he threw the cigarette to the floor of the compartment where it ignited. The victim attempted to extinguish the flame by stepping on the cigarette, but his shoe and a leg of his coveralls caught fire and he was rapidly enveloped in flames. An autopsy revealed that he died from smoke inhalation. His coworker managed to escape without being injured. An OSHA investigation revealed that the compartment had been cleaned and ventilated by a work crew before the victim and his coworker entered it. The cleaning crew had used a recycled thinner of unknown composition to wipe down the surfaces of the compartment that were to be painted. When the solvent vapors became too strong, the crew had ventilated the compartment to remove the vapors. They used compressed oxygen to do this instead of utilizing mechanical exhaust or compressed air. The oxygen enriched atmosphere led to the victim's clothing being ignited and burning rapidly. Following the OSHA investigation, the employer was cited for several violations including failing to ensure that tests were performed by a competent person following the use of a flammable solvent, failure to use mechanical exhaust to remove and dilute the solvent vapors, failure to prohibit smoking in areas where solvents capable of producing a flammable atmosphere are present, and using oxygen for ventilation purposes. The author concludes that multiple factors led to this accident.
Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 11(2):85, 1996. (2 references)
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