An electrician was knocked unconscious from the fumes within a waste gas tower. Dangerous amounts of carbon monoxide, dihydrogen sulphide, hydrogen cyanide, and other toxic gases were present – you don’t need to be an expert in chemistry to know that this could have very easily killed him. Luckily, a student was accompanying him that day.
They were both inside the skirt underneath the gas tower, on their hands and knees working on a motor. The electrician suddenly became motionless and unresponsive – knocked unconscious by the gases. Although the student felt ill himself due to the fumes, he managed to pull the electrician to safety. Both were very fortunate to survive this extremely hazardous atmosphere.
Case 2
Four men were involved in this incident. A fault was identified in a crane’s hydraulics, so two men entered the confined chamber to inspect the pipework, but they were unaware that the rusting of the boat’s metal hull had consumed most of the oxygen in the chamber.
Within a minute, the first man had passed out. The second was disoriented but managed to escape and raise the alarm. In an attempt to rescue the man knocked unconscious, two other workers then entered the area but were both overcome and asphyxiated due to the lack of oxygen. The rescuers died while the first two men survived.