Accident: 666198 - Employees Suffer Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Employees #1 through #5 were working during a holiday. One of them requested that the heat be turned up, which required the employer to change damper settings to switch from air conditioning to heating. The employer thought he smelled smoke and returned to the basement. When he saw smoke coming from the exit duct to the chimney, he shut down the system and called Nutmeg Heating, who came and fixed the problem. The employer then left the office, but returned several hours later to find fire trucks arriving at the building. He was told by the fire department that some employees had been take to the hospital suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Employees #1 through #3 were hospitalized; Employees #4 and #5 were treated and released. The building was immediately evacuated, and the fire department shut down all the systems in the building with any connection to the gas furnace and water heater.

carbon monoxide, inhalation, poisoning, air contamination, mech malfunction, furnace, ventilation, overexposure, water heater, chemical vapor

Accident: 170362008 - Legs Shattered In Propane Explosion

Employee #1 did general maintenance, repair work, and store clerking at a combination grocery store, seasonal restaurant, and cabin rental facility. At the time of the accident, he was assisting in opening the restaurant for the season. Employee #1 turned on the propane at the tank, turned on the water heater control valve, pressed the pilot button, and then tried to light it with a small propane lighter. He later stated that only air was coming out, so he waited about a minute and tried again. This time when he struck the lighter, an explosion occurred. Both of Employee #1's legs were shattered and he suffered a broken right arm. The insurance company hired a propane investigator, who had Suburban Gas test the propane lines. No leaks were found. Although the possibility of methane from the septic system was raised, it was most likely a propane explosion.

propane, water heater, explosion, leg, fracture, arm, maintenance, flammable vapors, flammable liquid

Accident: 14405088 - Dies In House Fire

Employee #1, a home health care worker, was sent to assist a terminally ill elderly gentleman at his home. A wood-burning heater provided heat to the man's wood cabin, and he was using flammable liquids to help start a fire. This resulted in an explosion in the southwest bedroom which blew out the glass windowpanes in one area of the cabin and ignited the combustible materials within the room. The fire spread throughout the remainder of the residence, consuming all combustible structural components. Employee #1 and the elderly man died of smoke inhalation.

heater, fire, flammable liquid, smoke inhalation, explosion, smoke, inhalation

Accident: 170566772 - Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

After his shift was over at 3:30 PM on January 17, 1997, a preparation cook supervisor for a restaurant apparently spent sometime in the bar and then went to the mechanical room to sleep. The 3.0-meter-by-3.4-meter room was located in a corner of the basement and contained two gas water heaters. On January 19, 1997, at 12:30 AM, the employee was found dead in the mechanical room. He had died of carbon monoxide poisoning. One water heater had malfunctioned and was producing excessive carbon monoxide. The duct at the wall connection to the outside exhaust was corroded through. The fire department and gas utility measured carbon monoxide at 800 parts per million with the room closed after water heaters had been running for 20 to 30 minutes with a constant flow of water. They measured carbon monoxide at 8000 parts per million in the heater's flue gas.

carbon monoxide, poisoning, natural gas, water heater, exhaust fumes, exhaust system, leak, mech malfunction