Accident: 200400067 - Dies Of Apparent Heart Attack

Employee #1 fainted while working on unit #234. He apparently suffered a heart attack and died.

heart attack, fainted, heart

Accident: 170724538 - Suffers From Heat Exhaustion

On August 6, 1997, Employee #1 and coworkers were mechanically harvesting prunes on a day when the temperature exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit. He suffered from heat exhaustion and passed out.

agriculture, high temperature, heat, fainted, heat exhaustion

Accident: 170572812 - Suffers Respiratory Irritation After Inhaling Fumes

At approximately 5:30 a.m. on July 17, 1997, Employee #1 came on duty to prepare dishes for washing. She added Clorox to several cups and then turned on the dishwasher. After suffering symptoms such as burning eyes and throat, Employee #1 passed out and a nurse was summoned. She was taken to a hospital, evaluated by a doctor, and then released. Employee #1 saw the company physician the next day. That night, she was taken back to the hospital because of shortness of breath, and a lung scan showed irritation from fumes. Sampling of her work area revealed no overexposure or fumes of any level. No citation was issued.

cleaning, eye, throat, fainted, caustic, lung, toxic fumes, respiratory tract, vapor, inhalation

Accident: 200460111 - Dies After Becoming Ill At Work

Employee #1, a temporary laborer assigned to work as a cutter at Cold Atlantic Fisheries, was assisting with processing a large load of fish. It was a very hot and humid day, and the ventilation in the building was not working. Employee #1 approached his supervisor, explaining that he felt dazed and sick and wanted permission to go home. He subsequently fainted at work, and died while being transported by ambulance to St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford, MA. The supervisor was aware that Employee #1 had an asthmatic condition.

overheated, ventilation, fainted, respiratory, high temperature, cardiovasc system

Accident: 201080108 - Employees Exposed To Fumes From Polyester Resin

At approximately 10:00 a.m. on October 10, 1996, Employees #1 through #13 and a coworker, of a small candle manufacturing facility, were taken to a nearby hospital suffering from nausea, headache, and dizziness. One among this group had also fainted. An additional six employees from the responding ambulance company complained that the odor was strong, and two ambulance attendants experienced severe enough symptoms to warrant treatment and observation. The Los Angeles County Fire Department conducted a HAZMAT investigation and determined that the source of the chemical exposure was a nearby fiberglass shop. CAL/OSHA initiated an investigation on October 11, 1996. The business next to the candle manufacturer was a fiberglass shop, which used styrene, a very odorous substance. The fiberglass shop had moved in less than a month before the accident, and the candle shop employees objected to the new styrene odor. When the candle shop was inspected, no significant amounts of hazardous chemicals were found, and the employer/employee interviews did not identify any process done in the candle shop that would lead to a serious airborne exposure. The fiberglass shop was north of the candle shop, in the same building. The ventilation systems were not connected, and firewalls between the businesses extended from the floor to the ceiling. The owner stated that on the date of the incident he had used 20 oz of styrene to manufacture some motorcycle fairings. He also said that the prevailing winds were such that the exposure could not have been from his use of styrene. The back doors of both of the shops were routinely left open and were about 50 feet apart. According to the weather data maintained by a nearby airport, the winds were blowing from north to south, which would have brought the styrene odors from the fiberglass shop into the candle shop. It is difficult to imagine how 20 oz of styrene could lead to problems with 14 people, who were 50 feet away in another room of the same building, and that vapors would remain in the vicinity long enough to be detectable by the ambulance attendants and fire responders. The candle manufacturer's response to the chemical exposure was not inappropriate, but the employer did not have an operable safety program and was cited for not being in compliance with T8CCR 3203(a).

chemical, chemical vapor, fainted, nausea, dizziness, headache, styrene, inhalation, work rules, vapor

Accident: 645341 - Dies Of Internal Bleeding/Natural Causes

Employee #1, the owner of a dry cleaning store, opened a roll-down steel door to access his store. Shortly after, he fell to the floor. EMS arrived and pronounced Employee #1 dead of natural causes. Employee #1 suffered from hypertension. An air sample taken from the shop showed no detectable level of toxic substances. The autopsy report showed bleeding on the brain.

fainted, unconsciousness, brain, dry cleaning

Accident: 950949 - Dies After Fainting And Falling From Scaffold

Employee #1 reported to work at 6:30 a.m. to raise the scaffold work platform that was installed on the non-stop elevating tower scaffold, and to stock the scaffold for the brick masons, who reported to work at 7:00 a.m. The employee had begun to perspire profusely while standing on the lower work platform, adjacent to the 21 ft long by 7 ft 3 in. high window opening. He appeared to lose consciousness and fell against the brick wall at the top of the window opening. He slid down the wall to a sitting position, fell over to his side, and rolled off the scaffold platform through the 2 ft 2 in. high opening between the work platform and the top of the window. The employee then fell to the floor, hitting a 42 in. cable guardrail which propelled him out of the window opening 28 ft 6 in. to the ground. Employee #1 died at approximately 11:30 a.m.

construction, scaffold, fall, fainted

Accident: 14262125 - Six Suffer Overexposure To Carbon Monoxide

At approximately 9:00 a.m. on January 23, 1995, Employees #1 and #2 were working in an inadequately vented "cool room," rearranging materials with a gas-powered forklift. Employee #1 passed out. Employee #2 was obtaining supplies for the EMTs who had responded when he also passed out. Employees #1 and #2 were hospitalized. Employee #3, who had worked in that area for a shorter period of time before being reassigned to work in another area, complained of feeling "bad." He and Employees #4, #5, and #6, who had responded to assist Employee #1 and had been in the area for a limited time, were taken to the hospital but not admitted. Carboxyhemoglobin levels were detected in each of the six employees as follows: #1-46.8; #2-36.8; #3-22.9; #4-29.3; #5-24.4; and #6-6.1.

air contamination, overexposure, carbon monoxide, toxic fumes, industrial truck, ventilation, fainted