Alert 06 – 34 Near Miss Incident Breathing Apparatus Valve Failure
Alert 06 – 34 Near Miss Incident Breathing Apparatus Valve Failure
WHAT HAPPENED:
A three month air sample analysis was to be conducted. A random Breathing Air (BA) cylinder was to be sent for testing. The BA cylinders are stored in a horizontal rack in the Emergency Response container. The bottle was grasped by the valve on the end which is the accepted means of lifting BA bottles Upon lifting the cylinder by the valve from the horizontal position a loud escape of air was heard and the bottle was wrenched from the employee’s hand. He realized what had occurred and vacated the ERT container. Once the noise had ceased he looked into the container to find the valve had separated from the BA cylinder. Upon inspection of the cylinder and valve it was found that the threaded brass tube section of the valve had sheared at the neck of the BA cylinder. The BA cylinder pressure at the time of the incident was between
200 – 240 bar (2900 – 3480 PSI). The BA cylinder had been hydro tested on 16/12/2005.