Objective To analyze the causes of national asphyxiation and poisoning accidents in the confined space accident category from 2014 to 2015, and provide suitable suggestions to prevent similar accidents.
Methods Forty-seven accident reports (including large accidents, serious accidents, and especially serious accidents) were retrieved from the database of the State Administration of Work Safety. Supplemental information was collected through reviewing literature and media reports. Typical enterprises involved in the reported accidents were identified to conduct field survey, collect information on industry, workplace, job position, type of accident, and implementation of safety management, and analyze the direct causes and problems of the accidents from the perspectives of operation management process, hazard identification, hazard control, and accident emergency rescue.
Results By industry, 55.3% accidents occurred in municipal facility management, chemical manufacturing, construction, and power and heat supply industries. By workplace and job position, most accidents occurred during cleaning up, desilting, and equipment overhaul in sewage wells (stations), reaction tanks, foundation pits, and culverts. By causes, the accidents were mainly caused by gas poisoning of hydrogen sulfide (53.2%) and carbon monoxide (21.3%), followed by asphyxiation due to the enrichment of methane (8.5%) and nitrogen (6.4%). The enterprises involved in the reported confined space accidents showed insufficient implementation of safety requirements or regulations; specifically, the rates of safety training, ventilation, gas detection, and wearing individual protective equipment were 12.8%, 8.5%, 6.4%, and 6.4%, respectively, and the rate of work approval system enforcement was zero. A large number of accidents (83.0%) were rescued blindly, which resulted in the casualties increased 3.8 times from 49 to 188.
Conclusion The national confined space accidents due to asphyxiation and poisoning from 2014 to 2015 are mainly caused by hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide, and blind rescue would enlarge casualties. In order to prevent the occurrence of similar accidents, enterprises should strictly implement the safety management requirements of limited space operations, carry out education training and emergency rescue training for key industries and key groups, and eliminate blind rescue. At the same time, relevant government departments should strengthen supervision on the enterprises and popularize scientific knowledge on the confined spaces activities.
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