Wade, Kingsley Rex
Deceased
Kingsley Rex Wade
Demographics
47y, male
Date of death
2011-10-27
Finding date
2015-10-23
Cause of death
Carbon monoxide toxicity against a background of coronary artery atheroma
AI-generated summary
Kingsley Rex Wade, a 47-year-old painter and sandblaster, died from carbon monoxide toxicity on 27 October 2011 while operating a diesel-powered air compressor that supplied breathing air to his protective helmet. The compressor had a broken oil separator scavenger pipe and a disconnected high temperature cut-out switch, which caused the compressor oil to overheat and burn, producing excessive carbon monoxide that contaminated his breathing air. Clinical lessons: workers using breathing air from diesel compressors face inherent carbon monoxide contamination risk. Preventable measures included: (1) carbon monoxide monitoring devices with alarms in breathing air supplies, now part of industry codes; (2) fail-safe high temperature switches that prevent engine start-up if disconnected; (3) mandatory regular maintenance and start-up procedures to detect equipment defects. The employer had no risk assessment for sandblasting, no maintenance records, and workers had no awareness of carbon monoxide contamination risks.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Clinical conditions
Contributing factors
- Diesel air compressor with broken oil separator scavenger pipe
- Disconnected high temperature protection cut-out switch on compressor
- Minor exhaust leak from diesel engine
- Lack of regular maintenance on compressor
- No start-up procedures or maintenance records
- No risk assessment for sandblasting task
- Worker isolation while performing sandblasting task
- No carbon monoxide monitoring device in breathing air supply
- No awareness of carbon monoxide contamination risk from diesel compressors
Coroner's recommendations
- Include requirement in appropriate codes of practice that when air compressors driven by internal combustion engines are used to provide breathing air to persons, the high temperature protection cut-out switch must be of the type that if disconnected or not functioning, the engine will not start (fail-safe mechanism rather than non-fail-safe design)
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