Safety Moment – City Engineer Loses His Life After Entering A Manhole To Retrieve A Flow Meter

On May 28, 2003 a 32 year old city engineer entered a 7’4” deep manhole to retrieve a flow meter and lost his life. Air quality monitoring performed in the manhole at the time the fire department retrieved his body indicated an oxygen concentration of only 2.1% and flammable vapors over 60%. “According to both witnesses, the entire incident from the time that the victim entered the manhole until he collapsed took only a minute or less.”

I encourage everyone to read the Facility Assessment and Control Evaluation Report regarding this incident and keep it in mind the next time you think it’s safe to enter a confined space for “only a minute or less”.