In this incident, a technician was deployed to carry out surface preparation work, including bead-blasting, for aircraft components. Less than an hour after he had started work in a bead-blasting chamber, he was found lying unconscious on the floor. He was in his usual protective clothing, and was wearing his air-fed helmet with the air supply still turned on. He was sent to hospital but died due to suffocation from oxygen deficiency.
Summary of Findings:
Investigations revealed that some workers from another unit did not follow their operating instructions. Instead of using nitrogen gas for the control system of an autoclave for their work, they used the common compressed air supply. This caused a back-flow of higher pressured nitrogen gas into the air supply for the technician, reducing the supply of oxygen and leading to his suffocation.
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