Capstone Project!!

CONFINED SPACE FATALITY

RATE COMPARISON, U.S. & CANADA,

1996-2005

Paul Joseph Hagarty

AA, AAS, BS

FALL 2011

Capstone Advisor: William J. Doyle, Ph D.

Copyright by

Paul Joseph Hagarty

2011

ABSTRACT

People have climbed into pits, caves, or others areas man-made or not and never escaped. In industry, these locations are called “confined spaces”. By statistically comparing U.S. and Canadian Confined Space Fatality (CSF) data from 1996 to 2005, and by using event & exposure codes 384 and 3411, any difference based upon age of worker, year, and industry can be discovered. In order to test the hypotheses, paired-sample t-tests were performed to determine whether CSF rates significantly differed between US and Canadian workers during 1996-2005. Resulted indicated that in the age groups of 20-24, CSF rates in Canada were found to be nearly 3 times as high as in American workers. No significant differences in CSF rates were found between workers aged 25-34 & 35-44 years. Significant results were found when comparing CSF rates among workers aged 45 to 54 years. Very significant differences in CSF rates were found between workers ages 55 and 64 and amongst workers over age 65. Alternatively, no statistically significant difference was found between the U.S. and Canada on basis of any particular year. However, a number of analyses were found to be approaching significance. Lastly, statistical analysis between the U.S. and Canada in the construction, manufacturing, mining and transportation industries indicated significant differences occurred between 1996 and 2005.

To James & LaVonne

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I am forever indebted to my wife Tiffany for all the love, support & sacrifice she

has provided throughout the years. She, along with my children Brandon, Nieraiz,

Gillian-Rose & Paul II are the source of my strength.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

Chapter 2: Background 4

Chapter 3: Purpose 9

Chapter 4: Literature Review 11

Chapter 5: Methodology 17

Chapter 6: Results 28

Chapter 7: Conclusions 32

References 34

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Hypotheses

Table 2: Variables

Table 3: Age of Workers

Table 3a CSF per Age Group (1996-1997)

Table 3b CSF per Age Group (1998-1999)

Table 3c CSF per Age Group (2000-2001)

Table 3d CSF per Age Group (2002-2003)

Table 3e CSF per Age Group (2004-2005)

Table 4: Year

Table 5a: Industry of Workers (Manufacturing/Construction)

Table 5b: Industry of Workers (Transportation/Mining)

Table 6: Paired T-Test Results (Age)

Table 7: Paired T-Test Results (Year)

Table 8: Paired T-Test Results (Industry)

Table 9: Hypotheses Testing Results

LIST OF ACRONYMS

LFM: Liquid Fuels Maintenance

T.O.: Technical Order

NIOSH: National Institute Occupational Safety & Health

CSF: Confined Space Fatality

ICD: International Classification of Disease

ISI: International Statistics Institute

OIICS: Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System

BLS: Bureau of Labor Statistics

CDC: Centers for Disease Control

NAICS: North American Industry Classification System

SIC: Standard Industrial Classification

ISIC: International Standard Industry Classification

NTOF: National Traumatic Occupational Fatalities

CFOI: Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries

FACE: Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation

AWCBC: Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada

NWISP: National Work Injuries Statistics Program

WCB: Workers’ Compensations Board

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION:

Derek S. had no idea when he woke up on the bright spring day in May 1995, that it

would be his last. His typical morning routine went smoothly as he poured a big cup of

coffee. After a brief look at the morning paper Derek said goodbye to his wife and 12

year old daughter still struggling to ready for school. After a 15 minute drive to the

Air Force Base where he worked as a civilian Liquid Fuels Maintenance (LFM)

Specialist. Derek parked his car and walked towards the aircraft hangar. After another

cup of coffee and a few minutes of schoolyard banter with his co-workers, Derek set

about his first task of the day. Cleaning of JP-8 refueling truck tanks was never a task that

Derek relished, although he was familiar with the Technical Orders (T.O.) on how to

safely perform it. He knew which respiratory protection system to use as well as proper

entry and the exit procedures for the confined space. While Derek did not enjoy the task,

he was confident he could accomplish it. Derek donned his harness and supplied air

respiratory protection system, set up the tripod over the hatch for emergency extractions,

then waited. 5 minutes then 10 minutes went by…no other coworker was available to act

as entry supervisor. Impatient to get started, Derek lowered himself into the 25,000

gallon fuel truck tank and proceeded to move around the baffles inside the dark, cramped

tank. Unknown to Derek, his compressed air hose did not adequately attach due to the

LFM shop’s improper use of a connector that was not certified by the National Institute

of Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH) for use with the airline respirator system.

About the moment Derek realized he was no longer getting air in the respirator hood, he

had already reached the furthest-most baffle of the fuel tank. Desperate for air and

escape, Derek started