[Discription of Incident]
This accident
occurred during work to discharge fumigation gas by opening the ship's
hatch after fumigation of lumber.
On the day of the
accident at 11:15 a.m., the concentration of gas in a ship's hold where
fumigation had been conducted on the previous day was measured in the
presence of a health official. As the effect of fumigation was confirmed
as a result of this measurement, two workers and three security personnel
started work to open the hatche of each hold under the supervision of the
operations chief, who was the victim.
Under the
instruction of the victim, two workers went towards the bow and opened the
hatches of holds No.1 through No.4 successively.
The victim went to
the starboard with three seamen, and instructed them to open and close the
hatches while the victim supervised their work.
Upon the
completion of work to open the hatch of the last hold (No. 4 hold), two
workers went back to the bridge after directing the three seamen who had
returned (who were conducting the work together with the victim) to a safe
place.
Although they did
not see the victim at this time, they thought that he was making a final
conformation of the opening work.
However, as time
passed and the victim still did not show up, they started looking around
the ship for him at 11:50 a.m., but could not find him. They then went to
the office as they thought the victim may have gone to the office to
report on the completion of fumigation work, but could not find him
there.
This raised the
concern of those present - including the general manager of the branch -
who returned to the ship and went out in several parties to search for the
victim. They found a hatch open on the deck. When they looked into the
hold from this hatch, they saw the victim lying on his back wearing a gas
mask.
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