Horrible Accident

[SATCOM]

Horrible horrible accident with a dear friend of so many years. Sunday she had to go to her laboratory because of burglar alarm at the sperm/tissue/rare blood bank she supervises. Cop and her arrive to find liquid nitrogen (in a gas form ATT) coming out thru door. She unlocked the door, went inside to turn off supply. Did not come out, cop (33 year veteran) went in after her, and never came out. HAZMAT equipped team arrived, brought out cop, and reentered to find my friend. Located her face down in a pool of liquid nitrogen. Cop was in 5 minutes and died. Friend was in 12 minutes and survived. Has had 3 surgeries as the local burn hospital. Reported that she is burned over 60% of her body but these types of freeze burns are the same as severe frost bite. The tissue dies (no blood flow), turns black and if treated must be removed by surgery. I just can’t be positive about this. I’ve worked with dewars holding 200 pounds of liquid nitrogen. Required safety courses teach the odd fashioned way with photographs of accident victims, to scare you into seeing the hazards of this stuff.

It hurts to think about her and I need to get a grip on this situation. Have nobody to share this with so......

Thanks for listening.

SATCOM

 

[Tom W]

I read about that in our local paper. Prayers are out to the victims, survivors and family.

 

[sfhogman]

I'm so sorry to hear this. Prayers sent for all involved.

Best,
Jeff

 

[375supermag]

Sorry to hear of this tragedy.
It was reported on the local news here in Pennsylvania.
So sad...

 

[gramps]

So sorry to hear. What caused the leak?
gramps

 

[bayou5252]

Terrible accident, indeed.

Prayers and well wishes for your friend...

Bayou

 

[AJGUNNER]

Wow---I bet neither of them even gave it a second though----just walking into the room like she was used to doing 5 days a week. Surely a life changing experience.

 

[Aqualung]

Very unfortunate. Prayers going to all.

Everyone knows the contact risks of LN2, but that's not it's lethal danger. In a closed room, it displaces the oxygen, making it impossible to breathe. SATCOM's friend and the officer were basically walking into a vacuum chamber.

When we had our cryo-storage room, we had O2 sensors on the walls, but they were a PITA and the sensors went out of calibration quickly. We just left the doors open so they could vent out into the rest of the building (dewars didn't hold enough to displace *all* the O2 in the place) and any leaks would be detectable.

So sorry again to hear about the accident.

Aqualung

 

[Tallbald]

I read about this tragic happening on a national news service this morning. Penny's and my sincere prayers go to the victims and families of this event. That's all she and I know that
we can offer. Don

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

Prayers come from SoCal for all involved: principals, families, friends and coworkers.

Rick C

 

[eveled]

Prayers sent.

 

[Jeepnik]

Prayers up.

 

[contender]

This is terrible. Prayers for both families.

 

[BearBio]

We had an incident a few years ago with the apple storage warehouses. Guy went in and collapsed. Buddy tried to get him and collapsed. Third guy only got 1/2 way in and collapsed. All three died.

I'm the Safety officer for my agency and we require specialized training to go into confined spaces (OSHA requirement). I'm surprised the OP isn't required to take HazMat training (?).

 

[WendyZXZ]

Very sad and tragic, prayers from Texas.

 

[ProfessorWes]

Oh my God. Prayers sent.

 

[protoolman]

So sorry to hear this. Thanks for sharing it with your friends here. Prayers sent.

 

[SR1911SHOOTER]

More prayers from Texas. bad news all around!

 

[toysoldier]

The media couldn't even get this reported correctly, said death was "from breathing liquid nitrogen."
Not too many years ago, a young couple died after they climbed inside a big balloon filled with helium, so they could talk funny. Not everyone pays attention in science class.

 

[SamV]

This is truly a sad and tragic story. I pray for all those involved in this situation.

 

[Pistolero]

Prayers up from New Mexico.

 

[powder smoke]

No words just prayers. ps

 

[Don Lovel]

I used to teach confined space entry and hazardous atmosphere training. Take it serious, lots of people die from incidents like that.
We had a bad accident in the environmental lab when one of our secretaries got her hand and arm burned from liquid nitrogen splash when she was standing there with some paperwork and waiting while two techs poured LN into a cruicible and it splashed about a 2" wide and 6" long bit of it and hit the girl on her forearm and hand. She screamed in agony the second it hit her. She said she felt like half her body was on fire.

 

[Jeepnik]

In the oil industry they have a rule. If some one goes down, hydrogen sulfide gas is the example used most of the time, you don't go after them. You call for folks with the right gear and training. There were a number of multiple deaths of rescuers.

Now my story. Last day a plant using hydrogen sulfide was operating I was helping the operator shut it down. The packing on a valve blew out just as I inhaled. Down I went. The operator saw that grabbed me and hauled me out. So, that time it went right. He did everything wrong, but I'm here to write about it.

I understand the urge. I'm thankful one man didn't follow the rules. But following the rules have saved a lot more folks than disobeying them. YMMV

 

[SATCOM]

Thank-you, for all your thoughts and comments.

No news since last night.


SATCOM

 

[Colonialgirl]

First job after my first year of college was a place that made resins for floor tiles and other uses; I was a QC lab tech. We had bulk storage tanks for various liquids. One day one of the tanks had been drained and aired out and a maintenance man had to go inside through the "manhole" for some reason.
He did it RIGHT, rope around the waist, that led to a "Safety Man outside watching through the manhole. The guy in the tank noticed nobody at the manhole and the rope laying slack. He was PO'd and went looking for his "safety man" who told him that despite all his resistance the PLANT SUPERINTEND had forced him to go do something else with NO CHANCE to let the guy in the tank know.
IT WAS FUN to watch the Maintenance Guy chase the plant super around the property while holding a BIG pipe wrench. They finally got him calmed down and the Super got a NASTY note in his personnel file (most of us thought he SHOULD have been FIRED; he wasn't all that bright)

 

[dougader]

Just horrible. Prayers for all affected.

 

[RSIno1]

we require specialized training to go into confined spaces (OSHA requirement). I'm surprised the OP isn't required to take HazMat training (?).

I work for a power company and anyone going near a vault needs training and another employee who stays outside to call 911 if you get in trouble. A lot of training/stressing on "you don't go in and create a second victim". We just saw a dash cam video of a crashed truck spewing some type of gas and the driver lying in the road. The cop went into the cloud to save the driver and was also taken down.

 

[Cholo]

So sad Prayers from GA...