Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report for Michigan: 59-Year-Old Male Worker at a Fruit Storage Facility Died After Entering a Controlled Atmosphere Storage Room

摘要

In the fall of 2008, a 59-year-old male employee at a fruit storage facility located on a farm died after entering a controlled atmosphere (CA) apple storage room. Its atmosphere contained less than 3% oxygen (O2). The storage room had a large wooden outer door (cooler door) and an interior aluminum door, which had been sealed with caulking and weather stripping and which had a Danger, Do Not Enter sign affixed. To maintain the atmosphere but still allow for visual observation of the produce, the door to the CA room had a 2- by 3-foot Plexiglas window attached to the door by 18 bolts/wing nuts. The event was un-witnessed. The decedent removed the wing nuts and the Plexiglas window and climbed through the door opening, and entered the CA room. The owner found him collapsed on the floor on his knees with his head leaning against an apple bin. A bag of apples was found next to his body. The owner leaned through the window opening into the CA room, grabbed the decedent by his coat, pulled him toward the door through the window opening, and checked for a pulse. He did not find a pulse. The owner left the area to call the farm office to have them call for emergency response. Upon returning to the decedent, he took a deep breath, leaned through the window opening, grabbed the decedent under his arms and pulled him through the window opening and out of the CA room. The owner attempted CPR after he pulled the decedent out of the CA room but was unsuccessful in resuscitating him. Emergency response arrived and he was declared dead at the scene. A bag of a different type of apples obtained from another CA room was found on the propane-powered forklift that was parked in the aisleway nearby. The Plexiglas window was found leaning against a wall with the wing nuts nearby.