scope:

Description of Driving Event:

A personal equipment technician employed by a California Company in support of the operations of the High Altitude Missions Branch, was fatally injured by inhalation of nitrogen while conducting a periodic inspection on a pressure helmet.

It is presumed that the technician donned the helmet in the course of his inspection; he then closed and secured the face seal. The helmet was connected to a source of nitrogen, the gas used in the facility for bench-testing and maintenance of this equipment. The technician lost consciousness within 20-35 seconds after beginning to breathe nitrogen; he was found by a coworker at 3:15 p.m., deeply cyanotic and unresponsive.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful; the technician was pronounced dead at the hospital upon arrival there by ambulance. A post-mortem examination was conducted by the Office of the Coroner-Medical Examiner, County of Santa Clara. The cause of death was stated to be asphyxia due to inhalation of nitrogen gas.